A recent meeting showed signs of progress in the international effort to create an arms trade treaty. Countries discussed key questions such as what types of weapons and transfers the pact would cover.
NATO defense ministers agreed in principle to set up a new arms control body, but key questions about the group’s task and its relationship to a broader NATO review have not been resolved.
Key members of the coalition conducting air strikes in Libya to protect opponents of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi were until recently selling arms to the Gaddafi regime.
The Israeli Knesset last month approved a bill paving the way for the removal of “non-operational” anti-personnel landmines in Israel through the establishment of a national mine action authority.
The Obama administration last year notified Congress of more than $100 billion of potential arms sales, shattering the old record of $75 billion. The Middle East accounted for the bulk of the potential sales.
Discussions among NATO member states and staff on the format and content of a “deterrence and defense posture review” are making slow progress, diplomats and officials involved in the process said last month. It is expected that an informal meeting of defense ministers March 10-11 in