ZAGREB, Oct 22 (Hina) - The Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance Centre (RACVIAC) project is one of the best proofs of the success of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe's Working Table III, Working
Table director Stewart Hendersen said on Monday. The Canadian diplomat made the statement at a news conference at Rakitje near Zagreb, the seat of the RACVIAC, a project initiated a year ago as a quick-start project by the German and Croatian governments. Hendersen commended the project as very concrete and useful. The content of what can be learned here has a concrete effect on peace in the region, he said. RACVIAC director Colonel Nikola Nogolica said the centre's governing board grew to have 28 members from 19 countries during the first year of operation. Since October last year, when it started functioning, the centre has organised five seminars and six lectures, which were attended by 450 participants,
ZAGREB, Oct 22 (Hina) - The Regional Arms Control Verification and
Implementation Assistance Centre (RACVIAC) project is one of the
best proofs of the success of the Stability Pact for South-East
Europe's Working Table III, Working Table director Stewart
Hendersen said on Monday.
The Canadian diplomat made the statement at a news conference at
Rakitje near Zagreb, the seat of the RACVIAC, a project initiated a
year ago as a quick-start project by the German and Croatian
governments.
Hendersen commended the project as very concrete and useful.
The content of what can be learned here has a concrete effect on
peace in the region, he said.
RACVIAC director Colonel Nikola Nogolica said the centre's
governing board grew to have 28 members from 19 countries during the
first year of operation.
Since October last year, when it started functioning, the centre
has organised five seminars and six lectures, which were attended
by 450 participants, mostly members of foreign and defence
ministries from countries in the region, he said.
"This is a unique opportunity for representatives from those
countries to freely, without any political pressure, consider
security issues, thus promoting cooperation and good neighbourly
relations and strengthening trust in South-East Europe," Nogolica
said.
The most important projects the centre has organised so far include
a seminar on the Code of Conduct in March, a seminar on regional and
bilateral air control regimes and the September Open Skies
Agreement, he said.
Asked whether the centre had considered the possibility of a
regional response to world terrorism, Nogolica answered
affirmatively and Hendersen said a special ad-hoc group of Working
Table III on the reform of the security sector last week met in
Skoplje to agree on a draft joint statement on the fight against
terrorism. The draft is being discussed in the region's capitals
and will be made public at a regional Stability Pact conference in
Bucharest on Thursday.
After the news conference, Hendersen held a speech about security
policy and cooperation in South-East Europe for accredited
military attaches and members of the RACVIAC governing board.
(hina) rml