The OSCE will continue to serve as a forum for dialogue, negotiation and cooperation in order to give fresh stimulus to the process of arms control, disarmament and confidence- and security-building, as well as to improved consultation and cooperation in security matters and to the reduction of the risk of conflict. The 1992 Helsinki summit established the CSCE Forum for Security Cooperation for this purpose. At the summit in Budapest (December 1994) it was already possible to adopt a code of conduct that elaborates the prohibition of the use of force presently in effect by establishing norms governing the democratic control of armed forces and their deployment both inside and outside frontiers. A declaration on the principles of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was likewise adopted.

The Lisbon summit (1996) welcomed the mandate for adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE). Through its Declaration on a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the Twenty-first Century, moreover, it laid down the guidelines for the OSCE’s contribution to the creation of the future security structure in Europe. The greatest political and operational challenge confronting the OSCE today is the task imposed by the Dayton Agreement on implementing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: The OSCE monitored the 1996 national elections and the 1997 municipal elections there, including voter registration. Among its other tasks are to contribute to the enforcement of respect for human rights and, through confidence-building measures, to help prevent a new outbreak of hostilities.