Meeting of the Foreign and Defence Ministers of the Member States of Western European Union (WEU) in Ostend on 19 November 1996. Following the unanimous decision of the Defence Ministers, meeting within the Western European Armaments Group (WEAG), to propose the creation of the Western European Armaments Organisation (WEAO), the WEU Council of Ministers (at 10) adopts the WEAO Charter thereby granting this organisation the status of WEU subsidiary body, in accordance with Article VIII of the Modified Brussels Treaty.