§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he intends to take to encourage international responsibility in arms transfers.
§ Mr. AitkenThe United Kingdom is an active participant in a number of multilateral export control regimes covering weapons of mass destruction. These include the missile technology control regime, Nuclear Suppliers Group and Australia Group—which deals with chemical and biological weapons. Through our membership of the EC and P5 we have agreed harmonised criteria concerning the export of defence equipment. We are also involved in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and negotiations among COCOM partners, the latter relating to replacing COCOM controls with an arrangement to cover conventional arms and dual-use equipments more generally. The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of moves to promote greater transparency in conventional arms transfers through the United Nations register of conventional arms.