HC Deb 03 February 1988 vol 126 c628W
14. Mr. Sumberg

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the progress being made in talks on the present imbalance in conventional forces between NATO and the Warsaw pact.

Mr. Mellor

The MBFR talks, which deal with a limited area of central Europe, have made no real progress for the last 15 years. The main reason has been the Warsaw pact's failure to provide adequate data on its forces or to accept proper verification. Informal discussions are now under way in Vienna with a view to setting up a new negotiating forum within the framework of the CSCE process. This would deal with the whole of Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals. Progress has so far been encouraging. We hope that substantive talks can begin later this year.

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