16 November 1999 Text: U.S. Welcomes Adoption of Revised Vienna Document 1999 (Facilitates transparency and confidence in military activities) (780) Josiah Rosenblatt, deputy chief of the U.S. mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), welcomed November 16 the adoption of a revised Vienna Document as a major step toward boosting transparency and mutual confidence among OSCE members with regard to their military forces and military activities. Rosenblatt's remarks came at the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation in Istanbul, which is a prelude to the OSCE Summit to be held there November 18-19. The revised document includes important changes that "strengthen the Vienna Document and make it even more applicable to today's politico-military realities," he said. The process of reviewing the Vienna Document 1994 -- which itself was an update of confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) contained in documents adopted in 1986, 1990 and 1992 -- "has demonstrated that we already have a mature and sturdy collection of CSBMs," Rosenblatt said. "We now have several years' experience with the Vienna Document and its implementation. Over the years, it has played a critical role in helping ensure transparency, predictability, and cooperation on security-related matters. We remain committed to ensuring that the Vienna Document 1999 will continue to play the same important role." Following is the text of Rosenblatt's statement: (begin text) U.S. Mission to the OSCE Istanbul, Turkey November 16, 1999 STATEMENT ON VIENNA DOCUMENT DELIVERED BY DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION JOSIAH ROSENBLATT TO THE OSCE FORUM FOR SECURITY COOPERATION, ISTANBUL Mr. Chairman, the United States welcomes the adoption of a revised Vienna Document. This is an another important step in our efforts to ensure that the Vienna Document fulfills its important role of facilitating increased transparency and mutual confidence with regard to the military forces and military activities of all OSCE participating States. Our decision today at Istanbul fulfills the mandate we established for ourselves on December 10, 1997 in FSC Decision 15/97. In that decision, we committed ourselves to review the Vienna Document with the objectives of reflecting agreements already reached and considering measures and amendments to existing provisions to enhance transparency, predictability and co-operation. We have accomplished these tasks, and -- in our opinion -- we can take pride in our accomplishments. We recognize many of us suffered disappointments during the review process. Many delegations -- including my own -- put forward new ideas and proposals for consideration. For example, we and others had high hopes for the inclusion of provisions related to military infrastructure transparency and new aircraft types. After thorough consideration, however, few of these proposals have survived the review process and are included in Vienna Document 1999. That said, we believe that the review process has resulted in two important outcomes. First, the Vienna Document 1999 includes a number of new and important changes. These changes strengthen the Vienna Document and make it even more applicable to today's politico-military realities. Second, however, and equally as important, the process itself has demonstrated that we already have a mature and sturdy collection of CSBMs. This review has helped us understand that there is a finite number of militarily significant CSBMs that are capable of achieving consensus on an OSCE-wide scale. We now know that we have accomplished what we can in this area. We now have several years' experience with the Vienna Document and its implementation. Over the years, it has played a critical role in helping ensure transparency, predictability, and cooperation on security-related matters. We remain committed to ensuring that the Vienna Document 1999 will continue to play the same important role. Mr. Chairman I would be remiss if I did not publicly and sincerely thank all of those who have worked so hard for this decision here today. I want to, in particular, note the extraordinary efforts of two individuals -- Mr. Paul Flaherty and Mr. Francois LaRochelle -- who have served as coordinators of the Vienna Document review process. Mr. Flaherty had the unenviable task of seeking to impose some semblance of order and discipline on the first phase of the review process. It is in no small part due to his efforts that we are where we are today, and we want to express gratitude to him and recognize his efforts. Mr. LaRochelle has shown extraordinary skill, diligence, patience, and creativity in guiding this process to its conclusion -- often in the face of differing and strongly held views from a number of delegations, including my own. We commend him, and on behalf of the United States, I thank him for his efforts. (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State)