Disarmament Diplomacy

MTCR Plenary Meeting

' Meeting of the Missile Technology Control Regime 2000,' Finland Foreign Ministry Press Release http://formin.finland.fi, October 13, 2000.

Note: the MTCR was established in 1987. It currently has 32 member states: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.

"The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) held its 15th Plenary Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on October 10-13, 2000, in order to review and strengthen its efforts to prevent missile proliferation. The meeting, which marked the start of the Finnish Chairmanship, was officially opened by Mr. Kimmo Sasi, Minister of Foreign Trade of Finland. ...

The MTCR Partners agreed that the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery is one of the major concerns and a threat to global and regional stability. This challenge is not limited to any specific region, but is a global concern. During the meeting they also continued to discuss responses to face the challenges posed by indigenous missile programmes and missile exports.

Export controls continue to play an important role in efforts to face these challenges. The Partners agreed that the MTCR must continue to adapt itself to the developments of technology. The Partners renewed their commitment to implement strictly their export controls and expressed their readiness to strengthen them as necessary.

The MTCR will continue to engage in dialogue with non-Partners, encourage them to observe the MTCR Guidelines, and consult them on the wider aspects of missile non-proliferation.

The Partners continued their deliberations, started in the previous Plenary in 1999, on a set of principles, commitments, confidence-building measures and incentives that could constitute a code of conduct against missile proliferation. They decided to approach countries outside of the MTCR in order to engage them in a broader common effort to agree on a multilateral instrument open to all states.

The Plenary welcomed the offer of Canada to host the next Plenary Meeting in Ottawa on September 24-28, 2001 and to serve as Chair of the MTCR for the subsequent year."

© 2000 The Acronym Institute.