Georgian Officials to Participate in CFE Conference in Vienna

A Georgian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgi Manjgaladze will participate in an Extraordinary Conference of states, which are party to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) in Vienna on June 12-15.

Russia officially requested on May 28 the conference in an attempt ?to seek mutually acceptable solutions to the current CFE crisis.? Russian President Vladimir Putin in April said that Russia might declare a moratorium on the implementation of the treaty “until all countries of NATO, without exception, ratify it.”

One of the reasons for the protracted ratification process of the CFE Treaty by NATO members is the non-fulfillment of Russia?s obligations regarding the withdrawal of its military bases from Georgia and Moldova. This is one of the requirements of the CFE Treaty signed in Istanbul in November 1999.

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