Швейцарская Конфедерация
COOPERATION AGREEMENT SIGNED BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND THE SWISS CONFEDERATION FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS STOCKPILES IN RUSSIA
Unofficial translation from Russian
PRESS RELEASE
On January 28 a Russian-Swiss intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement for the Destruction of Chemical Weapons Stockpiles in the Russian Federation was signed in Moscow. In accordance with this document, Switzerland over the next five years will gratuitously allocate 15 million Swiss francs for the solution of this extremely urgent task for Russia.
Along with the earlier concluded Agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program in the Russian Federation (MNEPR Agreement), Russian-British Supplementary Agreement on Cooperation in the Nuclear Field, Russian-Italian Agreements on Cooperation in the Disposition of Decommissioned Russian Nuclear Submarines and in the Destruction of Russian Chemical Weapons Stockpiles, Executive Agreement with Japan and contracts with Norway for the disposition of nuclear submarines, the new accord - between Moscow and Bern - will constitute another important stage in the practical implementation of the Global Partnership (GP) Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction - the initiative of the G8 leaders, put forward in 2002 at the summit in Kananaskis, Canada.
The Russian side is certain that the Agreement signed in Moscow will be a good example for other GP participants. Now it is necessary not to lose the pace and to switch to the implementation of specific cooperation projects more quickly. As is known, this task is set in the Global Partnership Action Plan, approved in June 2003 by the G8 leaders in Evian, France. The Swiss Confederation's joining the GP as a donor is an important contribution to the achievement of this objective.
January 28, 2004