Regional Information Exchange Process on Arms Exports
The second meeting of the Regional Information Exchange Process on Arms Export Controls took place on 23 March 2010 in Skopje, the FYR of Macedonia, with the participation of delegations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Delegations were informed of the priorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the period 2010-2011. It was agreed that they will continue to provide updates at the subsequent meetings.
SEESAC presented the regional database of licensing officers for foreign trade of armaments, military equipment and dual use goods as well as a database of brokers registered in the Western Balkans, which is still under development. Both databases received the support and approval of the delegations, and it was agreed that SEESAC would continue to improve them.
Discussion was then focused on national export policies for exports of weapons and dual-use goods to specific geographic destinations, which is the recurring theme of the Regional Information Exchange Process. Each delegation informed the meeting participants about recent cases of arms exports. In addition, delegations once again shared detailed information about regulations for exchange of information on licence denials in their national legislation. Delegations also exchanged views on the implementation of catch-all clauses as well as on the country-specific end-user and international certificates and forms.
Finally, delegations agreed that the next meeting of the information exchange process will take place in November 2010 in Belgrade, Serbia. It was agreed that representatives of EU COARM will be invited to attend and present the work of COARM
