Paris Summit Marks End of Cold War - November 1990

A formal conclusion to the era of Cold War between East and West was formally celebrated at a summit conference in Paris. On his way to the summit, Pres. George Bush visited Czechoslovakia, addressing 100,000 in Wenceslas Square in Prague on November 17, before speaking again to the Federal Assembly. Bush met with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Berlin, November 18. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev met with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, November 18, and then signed a Soviet-Italian friendship treaty with Italian Premier Giulio Andreotti. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe opened in Paris, November 19, with the United States, Canada, and all the nations of Europe represented (except Albania, which sent observers). On November 19, Bush and Gorbachev, as well as other leaders of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, signed the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which limited each military force in the region to 20,000 main battle tanks, 30,000 other armored combat vehicles, 20,000 pieces of artillery, and 6,800 combat aircraft. On November 21, the last day of the summit, the leaders signed the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, which declared an end to "the era of confrontation and division in Europe" and pledged a "new era of democracy, peace and unity."