The jubilee of regional cooperation on arms control: SALW Commissions Meetings 10
Budva, 26-27 November 2018
South East Europe arms control decision-makers met at SALW Commissions Meeting 10, to flag progress and challenges in various aspects of arms control, discuss latest European Union legislation and regulatory trends on arms control, and promote regional solutions to address the identified challenges.
This regional meeting offered members of the SALW Commissions in Western Balkans as well as their counterparts from Belarus, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine an open forum for fostering dialogue on arms control topics related to the tightening of legal frameworks for SALW control, mainstreaming gender in national policies, ensuring transparency of arms exports and dealing with challenges resulting from unregistered firearms in the hands of civilians.
The Meeting was opened by Mr. Safet Korać, Director of Directorate for Strategic Development, Ministry of Internal Affairs. During his speech, Mr. Korać highlighted the importance of the event as a strategic platform for cooperation and reaffirmed his full commitment to the engagements set out by the jointly agreed regional Roadmap for a sustainable solution to the illegal possession, misuse and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition in the Western Balkans by 2024.
On behalf of SEESAC, Ms. Bojana Balon, highlighted that the newly adopted EU Strategy "Securing arms, protecting citizens" emphasizes the importance of effective regional cooperation and exchange of information with the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership countries, and the EU’s continued support to SEESAC, recognizing the Roadmap as an important instrument for strengthening arms control in the Western Balkans.
A flagship of this edition of the SALW Commissions meeting was the completion of the Gender Coach Programme by Mr. Ermin Pešto, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mr. Mladen Marković, President of the National SALW Commission, Ministry of Interior of Montenegro.
Background:
SEESAC is a regional platform fostering dialogue and the development of common solutions both at technical level, through the SEEFEN network meetings, and at policy-making level through the SALW Commissions regional meetings. Organized twice a year throughout South East Europe, this November, both events reached their tenth edition. Some of the results achieved include the adoption of a Regional Roadmap for combatting arms trafficking, implementation of a regional SALW Survey or pioneering a gender equality program. Beyond these events, SEESAC provides experts with a secure online platform which enables real time information exchange. SEESAC works within the framework of the EU COUNCIL DECISION (CFSP) 2016/2356.