HC Deb 25 March 1991 vol 188 cc278-9W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set out the steps currently being taken to strengthen the arms control regimes.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

There are a number of arms control fora: further measures to supplement the conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE) treaty and the Vienna package of confidence and security building measures (CSBMs) are under consideration in NATO and among the participants in the Vienna negotiations.

Negotiations continue between the United States and the Soviet Union on a START agreement which we hope can be concluded later this year.

NATO is currently considering its approach to negotiations on short-range nuclear forces in Europe.

An early and successful conclusion is being pursued in the conference on disarmament in Geneva for a chemical weapons convention.

The third review conference of the 1972 bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons convention in September will provide an opportunity to strengthen the convention by improving its confidence-building measures regime and reviewing the scope for verification.

Closer co-ordination is being sought in the Australia group on contacts on CW precursors and dual-use equipment.

Discussions continue in the United Nations, the co-ordinating committee for multilateral export control, the missile technology control regime and groups of nuclear suppliers on strengthening other arms control regimes.