§ 64. Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the latest security developments in central Europe.
§ Mr. WaldegraveImplementation of the INF treaty has now begun involving inter alia the withdrawal of Soviet and US LRINF/SRINF missiles from central Europe. At the same time Warsaw pact and Alliance negotiators are meeting in Vienna with a view to agreeing a mandate for new negotiations on conventional stability. While these will cover the whole Atlantic/Urals area they are likely to focus on areas where the concentration of forces is greatest, notably in central Europe. It is hoped the conventional negotiations will begin within the next few months, in parallel with further negotiations on confidence building. Meanwhile the MBFR talks, which are directly concerned with the reduction of armed forces in central Europe, continue in Vienna but with little prospect of early agreement.