Parties to the Dayton Peace Accords ready to take more responsibility in arms control, OSCE representative hears during consultations

VIENNA, 3 July 2009 - Representatives of the foreign ministries of Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed their countries were ready to continue taking more responsibility to implement the Article IV Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control during a series of meetings with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Article IV that concluded today.

"Today, after 13 years of successful implementation, the parties have achieved such a high level of experience and the co-operation among them is so good that assistance provided by the international community is no longer needed to the same extent," Brig. Gen. Costanzo Periotto said as he returned to Vienna from a week-long trip to South-Eastern Europe.

"The international community therefore welcomes and supports the parties' initiative towards more ownership. The process will develop gradually in the course of the following years," he added.

The OSCE participating States designated the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office in 1995 to assist the parties in the former Yugoslavia in their negotiations and implementation of peace and arms control agreements.

The Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control, also known as Article IV of the Dayton Peace Accords, was signed in 1996 under the auspices of the OSCE. By signing, the parties recognized that establishing measures for regional stability and arms control was essential to create a stable peace in the region.

The agreement, which aims to establish balanced and stable defence force levels at the lowest numbers consistent with security, provides for arms reduction, information exchange and inspections.