Open Skies Treaty is important for building trust and promoting transparency

VIENNA, 8 June 2015 – The significance of the Open Skies Treaty remains a vital instrument for confidence building and promoting the openness of military forces, said participants of the third Treaty Review Conference, which opened today in Vienna. The three-day meeting will review the functioning and implementation of the landmark Open Skies Treaty.

The Treaty allows its State Parties to conduct peaceful aerial observations over each other’s territories.

Opening the meeting, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Aleksandr Mikhnevich, in his address as Chairperson of the Conference, said that the Open Skies Treaty is one of the most important and effective military-political instruments aimed at building trust and increasing transparency among the OSCE participating States.

Mikhnevich also stressed the importance of conventional arms control and confidence- and security-building measures in the light of the security crisis in Europe caused by developments in and around Ukraine.

These mechanisms, including the Open Skies Treaty, cannot on their own to bring a solution to the current situation there, Mikhnevich said, but he pointed out that “they can make a substantial contribution to reducing tension by means of addressing various concerns in the area of security and restoring the atmosphere of trust.”

Mikhnevich also noted the importance of the Open Skies Treaty for his country. “It was one of the first international legal instruments to which the Belarusian state signed up to after gaining its independence, thereby demonstrating its adherence to strengthening security and stability in the area from Vancouver to Vladivostok,” he said.

Ambassador Robert Kvile, Permanent Representative of Norway to the OSCE and the current Chairperson of the Vienna-based Open Skies Consultative Commission, the Treaty’s implementing body, said that the Conference is an important milestone in the Treaty’s history. “We are about to take the Treaty one step further with today’s technology,” he said referring to efforts to take it into the digital era.

“The hard work performed by the Informal Working Groups on Sensors and Certification during the past years has resulted in significant achievements for the future functioning of the Treaty,” he said.

At the same time, he also touched upon certain challenges related to the functioning and implementation of the Treaty since the Second review Conference in 2010. “Selective implementation of the treaty is of specific concern. There is need for a frank discussion on such issues at this review conference,” Kvile noted.

The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 2002 and calls for a review conference to be held every five years. There are 34 State Parties, including most European states, the United States and Canada. More than 1,100 observations flights have been carried out under the Treaty since it came into force.