Arms control

With the pact under threat, Turkey wants to see continuation of the Open Skies Treaty for global stability and security, the country's Foreign Ministry said on May 23. 

"The Open Skies Treaty, which Turkey is a party to, is one of the main pillars of Euro-Atlantic conventional security architecture," ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a written statement.

The Trump administration notified international partners on May 21 that it's pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other's territory overflights initially set up to promote trust and avert conflict between the U.S. and Russia.

World military expenditure rose 3.6 percent year-on-year in 2019, the largest annual rise in a decade, according to an international survey released on April 27.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said the global military spending reached $1.9 trillion last year.

Greece welcomed a decision by European Union foreign ministers on Monday to launch a new maritime effort focused on enforcing the UN arms embargo around Libya.
Speaking in Brussels where the meeting of EU foreign ministers took place, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias reiterated Greece's commitment to take part in the operation.

China ranks second in the world in weapons production after the United States. Four Chinese companies in the industry are among the top 20 arms dealers in the world, according to a report by a Swedish research institute published today.

Turkey vetoed a request from the Greek Cyprus to participate as an observer at this year's Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, diplomatic sources said on Jan. 22.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the General Assembly meeting of the conference was held on Jan. 21.

This was reported by the Tass Agency, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.
"The formal request has been submitted", the source claims.
The United States did not grant visas to one-third of the Russian delegation, which was expected to attend the session of the UN First Committee.

Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ramona Manescu participates in the opening of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 63rd General Conference in Vienna on Monday. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE), Manescu will have meetings with IAEA acting Director General, ambassador Cornel Feruta, as well as with representatives of the participating states.

Chinese Chief of Arms Control, Fu Cong, warned neighboring countries not to allow United States to deploy such arms on their territory.
US President Donald Trumps' Administration pulls out of the Nuclear Arms Control Treaty from the Cold-War era with Russia.

Greece's military spending has shrunk dramatically as a result of the crisis, widening the defense gap with Turkey. Successive Greek governments have spent billions on armaments over the past few decades, yet there is very little to show for it in terms of a defense industry.