Experts meet at UN for first talks on possible arms trade treaty

Experts gathered at United Nations headquarters in New York today to begin talks on a possible treaty governing the trade in conventional arms.

The five-day meeting brings together nearly 30 countries that are members of the Group of Governmental Experts examining the feasibility, scope and draft parameters for a comprehensive, legally binding instrument establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.

The Group is chaired by Ambassador Roberto García Moritán, Secretary of Foreign Affairs at the Foreign Ministry of Argentina. He is not new to UN disarmament issues, having served in 2006 as the Chairman of a group of governmental experts reviewing the UN Register on Conventional Arms.

The General Assembly resolution that set the talks in process cited “growing support across all regions for concluding a legally binding instrument negotiated on a non-discriminatory, transparent and multilateral basis, to establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.”

The Group’s members are Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States.

The Group, which will hold its second and third sessions in New York from 12 to 16 May and from 28 July to 8 August, is expected to produce a report for the General Assembly’s next session.