Second Asian Regional Meeting to Facilitate Dialogue on Arms Trade Treaty

 

Convenes in Manila, Philippines, 26-27 November

 

NEW YORK, 25 November (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The Second Asian Regional Meeting to Facilitate Dialogue on the Arms Trade Treaty will take place in Manila, Philippines, from 26 to 27 November.

The event is organized jointly by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, and the Government of the Philippines.  More than 50 senior representatives of Governments and regional organizations in Asia, and from the United Nations, will participate.

The meeting will focus on facilitating dialogue in Asia on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), including its ratification and implementation.  The landmark treaty, regulating the international trade in conventional arms, was opened for signature at the United Nations on 3 June.  Globally, 115 States have signed the ATT, while 8 States have ratified it.  In the Asian region, 15 countries have signed the instrument, though none have yet ratified it.  The Treaty will enter into force after it receives 50 ratifications.

A legally binding instrument that aims at establishing common standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms, the ATT is the first-ever global international treaty on that trade.

This week’s meeting is a follow-up to an earlier one held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in February.  That event was held to assist Asian States in their preparations for the Final Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty.

For further information, please contact Sharon Riggle, Director, United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, at tel.:  +1 977 1 501 0257, fax:  +1 977 1 501 0223, or e-mail:  info@unrcpd.org.

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For information media • not an official record