13th Meeting of the Regional Arms Exports Information Exchange Process
TIRANA –Regional Arms Exports Information Exchange Process (RIEP) held its 13th meeting on 11 March 2015 in Tirana, Albania, as part of the process of enabling more effective arms transfers control on a regional level.
Tirana RIEP session gathered 20 delegates from five countries and four international experts for a day-long meeting to discuss the development and execution of arms transfer policies in the region.
Albanian Government institutions and SEESAC organized and hosted the meeting together, with Ms. Venera Dimi of the Albanian Foreign Affairs Ministry and SEESAC’s Coordinator Dr. Ivan Zverzhanovski opening the meeting.
During the first session, participants provided updates from the Region, their recent achievements and plans for upcoming work. SEESAC Project Officer Ms. Iva Savic informed the participants about SEESAC’s progress in 2014 and plans for 2015. Ms. Savic also presented SEESAC’s practical report on addressing arms diversions ‘’Addressing the Unauthorized Re-export or Re-Transfer of Arms and Ammunition’’, as well as the accompanying Toolkit for Addressing Unauthorized Re-export and Re-transfer of Arms and Ammunition, available in English and three local languages, (BCMS, Macedonian and Albanian). SAWL Expert Advisor Mr. Mirko Kukolj finished the first session with the final review of the new SALW Handbook Tool – a tool tailor-made for the licensing officers in the SEE region designed to help easier and more precise categorization of weapons in the UN PoA and OSCE annual reports.
Delegates also discussed Tracing of Illicit Weapons during the second session, with Mr. James Bevan, Executive Director of Conflict Armament Research, presenting iTrace project, aimed to tackle the uncontrolled spread of small arms and light weapons and their ammunition, by providing policy makers with precise information, verified through in-the-field research in conflict zones, on transfers of diverted small arms and light weapons (SALW), larger conventional weapons and ammunition.
Ambassador Branka Latinovic of the Serbian Foreign Ministry opened the final session on New Trends and Challenges by providing a review of the Export Control Forum on “New and Evolving Challenges in the Process of Export Control’’, followed by presentations of each delegation on how they are preparing for implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty and what they see as main challenges in this process.
Small Arms Survey Researcher Ms. Irene Pavesi concluded the meeting by presenting The Transparency Barometer which assesses countries transparency through their arms export reporting practices using a complex set of parameters. As of 2016, the Barometer will include SEESACs Regional Report on Arms Exports as one of the key parameters in this assessment. The only other regional report considered is that published by the European Union. Further highlighting the advances the region has made in the realm of arms exports controls is reflected in the fact that in 2014, the Barometer identified Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom and Serbia as the most transparent of major exporters.
Next RIEP meeting is tentatively scheduled for June this year.
About the Regional Information Exchange Process (RIEP)
RIEP was initiated in 2009 as a platform for persons responsible for the development and execution of arms transfers control policies in their respective countries, to meet each other and regularly exchange relevant experiences. RIEP meetings are regularly attended by representatives of six (6) countries, namely: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In addition to facilitating the exchange of practices and policies among colleagues in the region, some of the important by-products of the process have been the establishment of a regional Brokering Database, as well as the jointly published Regional Reports on Arms Exports.
RIEP is a flagship activity of SEESAC's Arms Export Control project that has been generously supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway since 1 January 2010. In July 2013, the Norwegian MFA decided to continue its support through the Phase II of SEESAC’s Arms Export Control Programme in the Western Balkans project, which will last until June 2015.