News in English     | 05.06.2018. 19:40 |

Donor meeting held in Sarajevo in the framework of French-German initiative

FENA Muamer Selimbegovic

SARAJEVO, June 5 (FENA) - Strengthening cooperation, partnership and coordination in the fight against illicit trade in firearms is a prerequisite for the effective tackling of this phenomenon, which presents a serious threat and is one of the key security risks in BiH, the region and globally.

This was a message sent out by the participants of the Donor Coordination Meeting held in Sarajevo today within the joint initiative of the Republic of France and the Federal Republic of Germany, regarding the strengthening of mechanisms and instruments in the fight against illicit trade in firearms in the Western Balkans.

Germany and France, having recognized the need for a better integrated and coordinated action to address the issue of small arms and light weapons in the Western Balkans, launched a joint initiative to coordinate donors in combating illicit trade in firearms and comprehensive small arms and light weapons control.

Head of the Conventional Arms Control Department at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marcus Bleinroth, pointed out at the press conference that this initiative that began in February, with a focus on the 'Regional Roadmap', i.e., includes measures and activities on the suppression of illegal arms trafficking, together with 24 key indicators for measuring the results achieved in this area in the Western Balkans region.

He reminded that the meeting in the capital of BiH followed after similar conferences in Podgorica and Belgrade, as well as meetings in other major cities of the countries of the region, in order to identify and determine the needs of national governments and to define action plans within the mentioned Roadmap.

The importance of effective action in achieving the set goals was also stressed by the Ambassador for the sector of ​​transnational criminal threats and the fight against illicit small arms and light weapons in the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Jean-Claude Brunet, stressing that the mentioned initiative implies facing common challenges and risks related to the emergence of illegal possession of weapons.

Thus, it is necessary, as he said, to find appropriate and effective ways to prevent illegal arms trafficking, which poses a risk to security and stability on the regional and global level, since these are weapons that often end up in the hands of terrorists, and affect the growth of organized crime and arms-linked violence in general.

Bleinroth and Brunet emphasized the importance of preventive action and taking concrete steps in the framework of joint action oriented to combating illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

The aforementioned initiative has two-faceted approach that will be applied in two levels, so that the Regional Roadmap, by 2024, with specific and measurable goals for the reduction of illicit trade in small arms and light weapons will be the basis for strengthening the cooperation between the donor communities and authorities in the region, and will be drafted and harmonized with the authorities of the Western Balkan countries.

It was also announced that the heads of states and governments will officially support the document at the Western Balkan Summit within the Berlin Process that will be held on 10 July in London.

Simultaneously, France will host a high-level conference in Paris in December this year to review the results of donor coordination meetings, present national action plans for the implementation of the Roadmap and identify donor contributions to its funding.

As planned, at the end of 2019, Germany will host a conference in Berlin to monitor the progress and in order to review the first year of the Roadmap implementation.

(FENA) S. R.

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