Assistant Minister Šimunović headed Croatian delegation at 11th plenary session of Wassenaar Arrangement

The session welcomed the first participation by Croatia and other five new members – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia – and reached a decision to admit the Republic of South African into membership, as the first African member state of the Wassenaar Arrangement. The session reviewed this year’s activities and reached official decisions based on recommendations by the Arrangement’s working bodies.

Wassenaar Arrangement is the first global multilateral treaty on export controls for conventional arms and dual-use goods and technology, established in 1996 by 33 founding countries, which after the first enlargement cycle has 40 members, including the South African Republic.

The purpose of the Wassenaar Arrangement is to promote transparency, and exchange of opinions and information, as well as greater responsibility treading with the conventional arms and dual-use goods and technology, with the aim of preventing the creation and proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction and their employment systems, that is, removing the threats to international and regional peace and security that the trade of such arms, goods and technology may present.