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Slovak parliament agrees to accession to Convention on Cluster Munitions

Xinhua, June 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Slovakia is set to accede to the international Convention on Cluster Munitions, with 128 MPs supporting the move in Parliament on Friday.

Slovak Defence Minister Martin Glvac announced that an unspecified NATO country will help Slovakia to eliminate part of its inventory at its own expense. Slovakia would only have to provide safe transport.

"A total of 74 Agat munitions and one RBK bomb have already been destroyed based on an action plan for carrying out Slovakia's commitments. Slovakia's armed forces possess a total of 764 cluster bombs and missiles, which include sub-munitions. The missiles will be destroyed along with their launch mechanisms," pointed out Glvac.

The cost of eliminating the munitions has been estimated at 5.5 million euros (about 6.2 million U.S. Dollar), which will be incurred between 2016 and 2023.

As of Jan. 1, 2016, Slovakia is set to adopt as mandatory individual articles of the Convention, including a ban on the use of cluster munitions, as well as their development, production, storage or transformation into other forms of weapon.

To an appropriate extent this will apply to small-calibre air bombs, which are designed to disperse or be released from a pad attached to an aircraft. The Convention does not apply to mines. Endit