It's not about 22 minutes before the hour and next on midday will hear from the Swedish Ambassador for disarmament. My britsy Oren miss. The orang is a member of the Swedish Parliament and the founder of the world women parliamentarians for peas. She is also chairperson of the United Nations group of the study on nuclear weapons. She spoke recently to an audience of Unisys workers at the local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in St. Paul Her speech is called can we have both jobs and peace?Forgive me because English is not my mother time that I try to stick to my manuscript, so I don't lose the words, which is necessary to explain to you. Some experience we have about conversion than and the reasons why first of all, thank you very much for the nice words. I like that. Thank you very much indeed for inviting me here. I'm particularly delighted to be here where I understand the Trade union has taken the decision to become actively involved in promoting conversion. Is it good sign the trade unions and Transunion is stop prepare to take a greater responsibility for their jobs their community and their future. For ages men and women have not reached the Wayne. Hope of finally waging the war to end all wars. Even the window in Swedish inventor and industrialist Albert Nobel the father of the Nobel prizes had this unrealistic idea and that he would like to invent a substance or machine with such terrible power of mass destruction that war would be made impossible forever. Today we have come to realize that as the destructive potential approaches Infinity security approaches syrup. We have come to realize that the accumulation of weapons particularly nuclear weapons today constitutes much more of a threat than a protection for the future of humankind. The time has come to put an end to this situation. The belief in Euclid deterrence is crumbling and as this face loses its grip on our minds and perceptions. The arms race is slowly beginning to lose its momentum. Nuclear disarmament has started already with the INF treaty. It will continue with more significant reductions of strategic nuclear missiles convention disarmament has started with a unilateral Soviet cut out V on V, 500,000 soldiers and withdrawal of troops from Eastern Europe. It will continue with even more significant negotiated commercial disarmament between east and west Right now we are living in a very unique time in date. And right now we have every reason to plan for diversification and conversion to plan for jobs with peace. The new possibilities to redirect our use of resources to important political purposes, like social welfare qualified education urgent repair of necessary infrastructure and International Development Incorporation. To give just a few examples the Soviet Union has announced a decision to make public its conversion plans for two of its military Industries. The Soviets have in the house that instead of intermediate-range massage the INF they reproduce for hundreds of thousands of refrigerators and 200,000 baby carriers. China has reduce is armed forces by 750000 men and transfer military installations Harbors airport etcetera into civilian juice and they have used released resources to build up the community both the social welfare and the daycares in West Germany. The Social Democratic party has decided to put conversion on his political platform for the next parliamentary elections in the beginning of 1990. It is a common responsibility to use these new opportunities in a creative and constructive way. It is a responsibility of those management and juniors. It is a responsibility of local authorities and state and federal government. Has a long-standing interest income inch conversion. This interests is motivated by our commitment to International disarmament are analyzes is that and the international arms race are not motivated only by military objectives. The causes are not merely of a military competitive character related to conflict with the potential adversary. The arguments are also related to issues like National Prestige for from technology. Economic strengths Etc. Are these arguments are real really beside the point. If you can come to these arguments, then you will be able to go further and discuss the necessity of arms and Military Productions as such you will be able to ask them the most fundamental question. Do almonds provide the security there said to give however my subject matter today is If peas and jobs could go together. So let us have a look at this issue. Before doing so however, I want to refer to some important decisions in my own country taken by the Swedish Social Democratic party which with the exception of the years 1976 to 82 has been in the government since 1932 with or without the support of other parties. At our Congress in 1987. It was decided that the party should work for the following measures and goes and more strict low and control arms export a more restrictive interpretation of the guidelines for this export and a more limited selection of countries to be allowed to buy Swedish weapons. Analyzes of the need of arms export in order to maintain the Swedish arms industry and of the possibilities to further limit. Sweden's arms export and the defense industry should increase its share of civil production and concrete steps should be taken to speed up the diversification and the conversion of the Swedish defense industry. And you know when the pocket congress makes decision in my country and you are in government, you do have to follow up with the decisions are. My two predecessors a Swedish ambassadors for disarmament. They were both women. Put a reason I can't answer the question why but probably due to their interested in in the field and how we have all the women in this field with my two treatises of the Nobel Peace Laureate Alabama. And in your tours on 1st ched United Nations studies on the difficulties and possibilities on conversion from military to seven production report in the early seventies. It's very interesting report. I really recommend you to look into it showed very clearly that they were alternatives to military research development and production and she did to do like you did see listed a lots of products which could be transferred from the military side to the other side from the military research to the Civil research. The torsion report in of 1981 formulated the strike and conclusion. The word has a choice. It can't continue to pursue the arms race or it can move with deliberate speed towards a more substantial International economic and political order it cannot do both. I think we have come to the point where we should make that choice. We should hold the arms race and redirect resources wasted on it. So socially too socially useful production in the spirit in your torso was of the woods commissioned in 1983 to make an in-depth Swedish study. It was published as a two-volume report in title in pursuit of disarmament the conversion of milliliters to civil production in Sweden. Reactions to it it to its recommendations for mixed the government gave me the task of examining these recommendations and my working group publishes report last year called the policy for disarmament and development. What did we find? In the show drop the problem of the defense industry is how to keep abreast abreast of the technical development and at the same time it just to start anything or diminish orders from the National military forces the research and development costs of new weapon systems reach astronomic figures nowadays, you have intensified International competition in the arms trade not least from the newly industrialized countries in the third world. In the long run then what would be the consequences of international disarmament for employment in production within the arms industry? On a national scale and compared to other economic sectors within the Swedish society that acquired change would be relatively small. And the same goes for most countries, you know, when sweet and we have only 1.5 unemployment and that is I think the lowest in a democratic country in the world. Ukulele however, they might be problems because of one-sided dependency of military production and therefore my working group had a set of proposals and let me just briefly mentioned a few of them first local conversion vans the companies in the defense industry should eat Jerry set aside a special company based from a some corresponding to at least 2% of the value of the companies export of military equipment. The loopy Trade union together with management where to decide on the location of the France resources for research development and training for civil services. It is necessary that the work is directly affected must have a say in decisions absolutely vital to them and their families and to the community where they live the second proposal was special government contributions the working group for the proposed that the government should also a look at this was the first one was directed towards the industry, which was exporting vipers II proposals were towards the the areas where they were heavily related reliable relying on Military the production but not for expert so the working group then proposed that the government should also allocated certain sum of money in the National budget for support Regional developments boards and specific local initiatives in communities and regions highly dependent on the defense industry and the basic idea is to develop a more diverse economic structure in these now very vulnerable regions. It is a kind of diversification not within the company but on a regional basis And the FedEx on but I would give you a kiss a Clearinghouse for information on conversion. My working group also proposed the funding of an Information clearing house in Sweden. Would you could call the bank of knowledge on the conversion of Defense Industries in various countries, and the assembly information should be made available available internationally and what is beginning of this clearing house is not made at the peace Research Institute of one of our famous to universities with the support of the government and the Parliament has given its principal endorsement of the project and also expressed is expectations that the government and its neck by the next budget Bill. We come back to the parliament with a proposal on financing a full-scale Information clearing house on commercial. The arms race is today only partially a competition with International causes many researchers describe the driving forces even as primary domestic ones as such they can before Don the national level diversification and conversion planning is an important part of a strategy to reduce the influence of these forces. The threat of local unemployment should never be allowed to become a hindrance for the possible discernment diversification in our instruments against an employer instead of worrying about conversion planning politicians could have caused just say to the Ounce industry. Well, if you don't see the sign on the wall, if you don't realize that you are a slinking sector because of the growing International competition. If you don't plan for a situation of international disarmament, well then it's your own fault. And you will have to take the negative consequences. There is however one serious problem with this attitude and that is a fate of the workers and other employees employees. They have been used and will be used by the companies in the political blackmail to get the government to put more money into the arms Productions. I must confess that I have never understood why governments the world over have been so weak that they have sciency accepted this black night. Why haven't they used the opportunity to bond him when an arms manufacturer asked for new licenses and subsidies for weapons Pro export? Why haven't they been using that particular bargaining power in connection with every new order for military equipment? Why haven't they bargained for guarantees for 7 research development and production to supplement to replace military production. Sometimes I have a feeling that nowadays. We do not have an arms industry in order to support the Armed Forces. But we have armed forces in order to support the arms industry. Military spending is a dangerously addictive to an economy as drugs can be to an individual says Lloyd do more at the University of Texas in the book Making Peace possible the promise of economic conversion. And he goes on like it wrong. It is seductive because it creates a feeling of well-being in the short run. Bitemporal stimulating jobs and income and like a drunk continued overuse destroys the health of the user by diverting critical resources from activities that directly increase economic well-being or enhance the economist capacity to produce efficiently because it undermines the ability of the economy to function as time goes by larger and larger doses are required to achieve the same short-term High. And Irma draws the parallel feather and point out that it is difficult to get the user to stop even if he realizes the great Damage Done by the use stopping we caused a great deal of pain and suffering. He's conclusion is that planned economic conversion is an antidote for such an addiction and kind of did detoxification program for military addictive economist. Finally the arms race is neither giving a security nor securing the jobs for the future there for this situation has to be changed once and for all we cannot as Albert Einstein ones underlined stimmel taneously prepare for and prevent War. The arms race must come to an end in the last couple of years. We have seen this historic opportunity to come instead of a supposed window of vulnerability. We now have a window of opportunity. This is a possibility we must now take care of it. It is very urgent and we cannot afford to just let it go without taking advantage of it. And taking this unexpected Charles means also using the instruments of economic diversification and conversion by planning for diversification and boost jobs in peace possible by planning for diversification and Commercial. We will be able to abundance the obsolete idea that security comes from the barrel of a gun. By planning for diversification and conversion. We will generate not only say for jobs, but also more jobs. The difficulty may be the better transition from a military economy to a civil economy, but that can be dealt with through political decisions together with Planning and Development within the industry. Civil production gives more stable production from the employment point of view than military production. That is always in Need for socially usable products. Even if the arms industry in many cases has a long way to go to a dump to the competition in the Civil Market. Diversification is a way to gradually learn the difficult issue of market and marketing as a preparation for conversion and the answer to the overriding question if we can have both jobs and peace is every sounding yes. Thank you.