OSCE SAYS ARMS REDUCTIONS FULLY COMPLETED ( Editorial: --> 2831 )

( Editorial: --> 2831 ) VIENNA, Nov 21 (Hina) - A subregional commission including representatives of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and its two entities and Yugoslavia ended a two-day meeting in Vienna on Friday on the process of implementing an arms reduction agreement. Italian General Bona Bello of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a report that arms reductions had been fully completed. The agreement, signed in Florence, Italy, in 1996, provides for reductions in five categories of conventional weapons - artillery, tanks, combat aircraft, armoured vehicles and helicopters. The report said a total of 6,580 weapons from all five categories had been destroyed, most of them in the Moslem-Croat Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It added that 1,600 artillery pieces had been destroyed in Yugoslavia, now comprising Serbia and Montenegro. The largest amount of tanks and combat aircraft were also destroyed in Yugoslavia because it had the largest number of them. Despite the ups and downs in the developments, the agreement is being implemented with very positive implications for the future, Norwegian General Vigleik Eide of the OSCE, who chaired the negotiations, told a closing press conference in Vienna's Hofburg Castle. Inspections of the existing armaments will continue until February next year in the presence of assistants from OSCE member states. (hina) vm 212102 MET nov 97