Fifth plenary session of ACRS is held in Doha

This was the first ACRS plenary to be held in the Middle East. It was also the most contentious plenary where Arab and Israeli delegations clashed over how the talks were to proceed. The delegates approved, in principle, the establishment of a crisis prevention centre, a communication system linking foreign ministries, and maritime cooperation in search and rescue missions. However, disagreement continued over how to address the WMD issue. The controversy focused on the Arab parties' insistence that elimination of WMD should top the multilateral agenda. The Arab parties wanted Israel to agree to measures controlling its nuclear weapons capability, including by signing the NPT and opening its nuclear sites to international inspection. The Israelis insisted that the priority should be to establish confidence-building measures. The talks ended without an agreement on the Declaration of Principles (DOP) on arms control.

The language, originally drafted at the Cairo February 1994 intersessional of the “Declaration of Principles and Statements of Intent on Arms Control and Regional Security”, was retitled to "Declaration on Arms Control and Regional Security." Saudi Arabia was also unwilling to adopt the drafted ACRS Declaration of Principles. The Saudis described the proposed text as a pretext to normalization with Israel, which had “nothing to do with arms limitation.” Other Arab delegations agreed it was premature to adopt such a declaration before a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement. There were also objections to the human rights clause as it might invite external interference in the internal affairs of signatory states.