Arms Control Symposium and Dayton Agreement 25th Anniversary Celebration Event

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The online Arms Control Symposium and Dayton Agreement 25th Anniversary Celebration Event was organized by RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation in the period from 14 to 15 June 2021. Dayton Agreement 25th Anniversary Celebration Event started with the opening of the photo exhibition in virtual format dedicated to the implementation of the Agreement. On the Agenda there was the Official Session of the Sub-Regional Consultative Commission (SCC) statements of the Agreement parties’ political representatives, OSCE, Contact Group and RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation.

MG Jeronim Bazo said in his opening statement: “I am very honoured to be here today and as Director of RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation wish you a happy 25th Anniversary of the signing of the Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control.” “As the only organization providing training with practical part for future Sub-Regional Arms Control inspectors, RACVIAC has conducted 24 Dayton Article IV Orientation Courses and trained more than 500 military officers over the last 20 years. That confirms good cooperation and transparency among the signatories and RACVIAC and directly contributes to the regional stability and building trust,” he continued. He also emphasized that the control of arms still had a big role to play in addressing ongoing regional and global security concerns, threats and challenges: “Given the unfolding and important challenges and threats in regional and global security, the field of Arms Control must adopt new approaches and new ways of thinking. Reflecting the vision and mission, RACVAIC will continue to promote peace and stability in the region by further contributing to raising the countries’ institutional capacities in dealing with the common security challenges.” Lastly, he thanked all for the fruitful cooperation so far and once again congratulated everyone on this significant anniversary.

The awards and special recognitions to the distinguished individuals and organizations were assigned at the very end of the Celebration and we are especially proud that RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation and Ms Vedrana Djukarić, Activity Coordinator in the Security Sector Governance Pillar, RACVIAC, received the Certificate of Appreciation.

The first day of Arms Control Symposium (Panel I) was dedicated to “History and Development of the Agreement – National View” and the second day (Panel II) to “Arms Control Current Issues”. The purpose of this event was to present the latest developments in Arms Control, with the aim of revealing new perspectives on confidence-building measures in Europe and wider. The idea was to bring together all relevant players coming from the ‘Arms Control Family’ as well as experts dealing with related non-proliferation issues and provide them with the opportunity to discuss and share ideas on the Arms Control, taking into consideration the developments in this field in the region and in Europe as well as on a global scale.

“RACVIAC is honoured to be in charge of developing this annual Symposium as a regional platform to enable RACVIAC Members to update the South-Eastern European region on relevant information regarding this field. As we have repeatedly stated, the regional approach to security issues is a crucial element of peace and stability in the region and beyond. Hence, I hope that ideas expressed during this Symposium will not remain at a conceptual level but that this forum, through the involvement of the field’s prominent experts, will prove conducive to highlighting the challenges and successes of the past whilst outlining the plans for the future in a very concrete way, for the benefit of the SEE region. It will also serve as an excellent tool for increasing cooperation, openness and transparency amongst our countries,” said RACVIAC Director MG (ret.) Jeronim Bazo in his opening address. He has also taken the opportunity to express his sincere appreciation to speakers, arms control experts, academics, researchers and national representatives who took part in this event. RACVIAC Director emphasised that the Symposium was organized by RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation with central financial support from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Croatia without which that event wouldn’t be possible.

This was RACVIAC’s 11th Symposium in a series of such events aimed to annually review the recent developments in the ever-changing political and security arena and consider future developments and challenges in the Arms Control domain, on a regional and global scale. This year it gathered more than 60 national representatives as well as experts and scholars with a wide area of expertise, coming from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, USA as well as the Observatory on Security and CBRN Defence (OSDIFE), The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), UNDP – SEESAC, The Bundeswehr Verification Center (BwVC), National University of Public Service (NUPS) – Budapest and BENELUX Arms Control Agency (BACA).

The Arms Control Symposium and Dayton Agreement 25th Anniversary Celebration Event was organized in the partnership with Sub-Regional Arms Control Agreement Signatory Countries (B&H, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia) and financial support from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Croatia. The closing remarks were delivered by COL Deniz Öztürk, Program Manager in CSE Pillar and Mr Predrag Omrčen, Activity Coordinator in CSE Pillar. COL Öztürk closed the Symposium with words of gratitude and appreciation to the contributors as well as participants.
* This Designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

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