The Regional Report on Arms Exports 2014 - Available Now

The eighth issue of the Regional Report on Arms Exports, covering licenses issued in 2014, is now available.  The Report, published by SEESAC and funded by the European Union, is based on export data provided by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The Report is a direct result of a joint effort made by these five countries from the Western Balkans to offer a detailed breakdown of their arms export activities based on a unified and an agreed upon methodology. It closely follows the example set by the European Union, which publishes the only other regional report on arms exports.

The Report’s findings indicate that over €300 million of arms and military equipment were sold by these countries, based on licenses issued in 2014. It also reveals that arms sales reached 42.07 percent of the total value of arms export licenses issued in the region in 2014.

Indicating the countries of destination and the types of equipment that have been exported to those countries, the Report provides data on the number of issued licenses, the values of these licenses, and the value of the actual arms exports that took place based on those licenses. The Report includes detailed infographics that depict exports from the Western Balkan countries to different geographical regions of the world, and helps make the main trends and activities in the field of arms exports easily identifiable. As was the case in previous years, the report provides a summary of relevant national legislation on arms export controls, as well as information on relevant meetings and events attended by the participating Western Balkan states in 2014.

The production of a regional report on arms exports is intended to help consolidate the gains in transparency that have already been made in the region, while also demonstrating an ability and willingness to uphold the commitments associated with the Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP, defining common rules governing the control of exports of military technology and equipment.

The publication of the 2014 Regional Report on Arms Exports is funded by the European Union (EU), through the EU Council Decision 2016/2356 in Support of SEESAC Disarmament and Arms Control Activities in South East Europe in the framework of the EU Strategy to Combat the Illicit Accumulation and Trafficking of SALW and their ammunition.