§ Mr. Jacques ArnoldTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current status and recent implementation of the CFE treaty.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesAn agreement to apply the CFE treaty provisionally from 17 July 1992 was signed by all 29 CFE states parties at the Helsinki summit on 10 July. This was in response to the view of many states parties that implementation of the treaty, which was signed on 19 November 1990, should not be delayed any further by the failure of some states parties to ratify quickly. The treaty entered into force definitively on 9 November, following ratification by the last two states parties, Belarus and Kazakhstan, on 30 October.
In the 120-day period of intensive inspection since 17 July, the United Kingdom has conducted 21 inspections in the countries of the former Warsaw pact, and has received seven inspections from them. On 14 November the treaty moved into its three-year reduction phase, in the course of 316W which states parties will reduce their equipment holdings to the limits specified by the treaty. We are satisfied that the CFE treaty, which we regard as a cornerstone for co-operative security in Europe, has been properly implemented so far.