On Monday (22 February) Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will welcome high-ranking representatives of member states of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to the Federal Foreign Office.

At the invitation of the Federal Foreign Office, the participants will be briefed in Berlin and Vienna on Europe’s system of confidence- and security-building measures which includes the CFE Treaty and the Vienna Document.

The goal of this German initiative is to support the South American states in developing a regional regime of confidence- and security-building measures. The UNASUR states took an important first step in November 2009 when they adopted a catalogue of measures in this area.

All 12 South American states (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela) belong to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).