Arms Exports Oversight Meeting in Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 22 June 2010 SEESAC organized a meeting between Members of the Joint Committee for Defense and Security in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting took place in Jahorina near Sarajevo.The aim of the meeting was to further support Parliamentary oversight of arms exports.

The meeting was opened by Mr. Branko Zrno, Chairman of the Joint Committee for Defense and Security, who presented an overview of the work of the Committee and the tools at their disposal in exercising parliamentary oversight of arms exports.  Representatives of the executive branch informed MPs about the ongoing national and regional implementation of arms export control legislation.  They gave a detailed overview of the content of the national reports on arms exports and pointed out the increased level of transparency which has been achieved since 2003.

It was agreed that MPs and representatives of the executive would seek to organize in the near future a public launch of the current national report in order to improve the public\'s knowledge of the issue. In addition, meeting participants expressed their readiness to share their knowledge and experience should such a request come from counterparts in the region.

The event was part of SEESAC\'s activities within the framework of the Western Balkans Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms. The Forum promotes among others an increased transparency and regional cooperation for parliamentary oversight of arms transfers.