The Second Regional Report on Arms Exports
In June 2010, SEESAC organized in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) a regional meeting to discuss the Second Regional Report on Arms Exports. The meeting was attended by delegations from Albania, BiH, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The meeting focused on the main challenges associated with gathering information from the Customs and arms exporters on the utilization of export licenses, on the preparation of the Second Regional Report on Arms Exports and the introduction of a new category in the report, namely information on the number of brokering licenses that have been granted and denied. The goal of the discussion was to agree whether this information can be provided by all countries, to confirm the schedule for data submission, lessons learned and other actions to be taken to produce the Second Regional Report.Participants were also made aware of the proposed changes in EU legislation and discussion centered on the possible implications for the Western Balkans.
One of the topics of the meeting was the need to increase public awareness of regional achievements in the field of arms export control. Delegations discussed joint approaches in promoting success at regional and national level and specific measures for raising awareness.
The following agreements have been reached:
Consensus was reached that the Second Regional Report will include information about the utilization of licenses in 2008 in addition to the information about the number and value of issued licenses. Croatia will not contribute with data for this report as the first Croatian report encompasses data for 2009 only.
Participants agreed to provide SEESAC with national data on arms exports by 30 September 2009. SEESAC will compile the national submissions and produce a draft report, which will be circulated for comments by 15 October 2010. The deadline for final comments from states contributing data is 31 October 2010. The final version of the report will be published in November 2010.
Finally, the delegation of BiH proposed that the countries present the Second Regional Report on Arms Exports at a joint press conference in November 2010 in Belgrade, Serbia. The delegations of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia supported this proposal. The delegations of Albania, Croatia and Montenegro will hold consultations with the relevant national authorities and will inform SEESAC by the end of September 2010 about their decision.
