HC Deb 19 October 1988 vol 138 c964W
63. Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the current state of conventional arms reduction negotiations.

Mr. Waldegrave

Informal discussions are taking place in Vienna between representatives of NATO and the Warsaw pact aimed at agreeing a mandate for negotiations on conventional stability covering the Atlantic/Urals area. Few outstanding difficulties remain to be settled but the talks cannot begin before the conclusions of the Vienna CSCE review meeting. This in turn is dependent on achieving a satisfactory outcome in respect of human rights. Meanwhile the MBFR negotiations, now in their 16th year, continue in Vienna but with little prospect of substantive agreement.