Coordinating Committee For Multilateral Export Controls

Safeguard Agency to Fade Away: Western nations agreed to scrap the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls, or COCOM, the body established during the Cold War to block the transfer of sophisticated military technology to the former communist bloc. Top civil servants from 17 countries agreed to draw up a framework for a new organization to replace it that could possibly include Russia and China.

Safeguard Agency to Fade Away: Western nations agreed to scrap the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls, or COCOM, the body established during the Cold War to block the transfer of sophisticated military technology to the former communist bloc. Top civil servants from 17 countries agreed to draw up a framework for a new organization to replace it that could possibly include Russia and China.

The United States and 16 other Western countries that form the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) gather Wednesday to consider easing limits on high-tech exports to the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Formed 41 years ago to protect against a drain of militarily sensitive technology to the East Bloc, COCOM is reacting to the new political climate resulting from perestroika in Moscow and democratic revolutions throughout Eastern Europe.

The 17-nation committee that served as a Cold War sentinel against the export of advanced Western technology to the Soviet Union and its allies has agreed to accept Russia and the other Soviet successor nations as associate members, clearing the way for them to buy previously forbidden goods, the Bush Administration said Tuesday.

The 17-nation committee that served as a Cold War sentinel against the export of advanced Western technology to the Soviet Union and its allies has agreed to accept Russia and the other Soviet successor nations as associate members, clearing the way for them to buy previously forbidden goods, the Bush Administration said Tuesday.

The United States and its major allies have agreed on a plan to cut by half the list of high-technology products--from computers to airliners--that they will block from shipment to the Soviet Union, the White House announced Friday.

The United States and its major economic allies agreed in principle Friday to ease restrictions on the sale of sensitive technology to East European countries, but they remained sharply divided over how rapidly to relax the restraints. After a contentious two-day meeting, State Department officials announced that the Western governments had reached consensus on the need to liberalize current rules governing high-technology sales to the former East Bloc. The closed-door session was held in Paris.

Growing differences between the United States and its key allies, aggravated by the political changes in Eastern Europe, have generated potentially crippling tensions in a system that has kept sensitive Western technology from the communist world for 40 years. Few observers predict the immediate breakup of the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM)--the 17-nation, Paris-based committee that administers the West's high-tech embargo.

The Bush Administration, bowing to pressure from America's major allies, has agreed to back a gradual easing of restrictions on the sale of Western goods and technology to Eastern Europe in response to the rapid political changes there, officials said Monday. The decision, made at a meeting of the National Security Council, initially will affect only the sale of some advanced computers, machine tools and telecommunications equipment to Poland and Hungary.

The agreement reached Friday by the United States and its allies to reduce export controls on high-tech equipment sold to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has disappointed many U.S. technology manufacturers that had hoped for even greater business opportunities with the emerging economies of Eastern Europe. In fact, according to some U.S.

The agreement reached Friday by the United States and its allies to reduce export controls on high-tech equipment sold to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has disappointed many U.S. technology manufacturers that had hoped for even greater business opportunities with the emerging economies of Eastern Europe. In fact, according to some U.S.

The United States and its major allies have agreed on a plan to cut by half the list of high-technology products--from computers to airliners--that they will block from shipment to the Soviet Union, the White House announced Friday.

The United States and 16 other Western countries that form the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) gather Wednesday to consider easing limits on high-tech exports to the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Formed 41 years ago to protect against a drain of militarily sensitive technology to the East Bloc, COCOM is reacting to the new political climate resulting from perestroika in Moscow and democratic revolutions throughout Eastern Europe.

The United States and its major economic allies agreed in principle Friday to ease restrictions on the sale of sensitive technology to East European countries, but they remained sharply divided over how rapidly to relax the restraints. After a contentious two-day meeting, State Department officials announced that the Western governments had reached consensus on the need to liberalize current rules governing high-technology sales to the former East Bloc. The closed-door session was held in Paris.

The Bush Administration, bowing to pressure from America's major allies, has agreed to back a gradual easing of restrictions on the sale of Western goods and technology to Eastern Europe in response to the rapid political changes there, officials said Monday. The decision, made at a meeting of the National Security Council, initially will affect only the sale of some advanced computers, machine tools and telecommunications equipment to Poland and Hungary.

Growing differences between the United States and its key allies, aggravated by the political changes in Eastern Europe, have generated potentially crippling tensions in a system that has kept sensitive Western technology from the communist world for 40 years. Few observers predict the immediate breakup of the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM)--the 17-nation, Paris-based committee that administers the West's high-tech embargo.

The United States and Japan pledged to revitalize the international organization that monitors strategic exports to Communist countries in an effort to maintain a Western edge in advanced technology. A joint statement released after a two-day meeting in Tokyo said the two countries "agreed to work toward a major revitalization of COCOM."

British politicians called today for a major shake-up of Western export restrictions to the Eastern Bloc and said controls on the sale of high technology should be more flexible. A House of Commons committee investigating British trade with Eastern Europe released a report urging "an immediate and radical" reduction in the scope of goods that must be vetted for export by the West's COCOM organization in Paris.