§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to co-ordinate the arms export policies, both generally and with particular reference to small and portable weapons, of the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and Russia; and how far they consider that this will contribute to measures to counter international terrorism and to prevent the proliferation of lethal weapons. [HL2238]
§ The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)The rigorous application of strict export licence assessment criteria and maximum transparency in information exchanges on arms transfers are central to keeping arms out of the hands of terrorists and in tracing flows of weapons, particularly small arms. We therefore work closely with our EU partners on the operation of the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports and on the weapons collection and destruction projects funded under the EU Joint Action on Small Arms. There are regular EU co-ordination exchanges with the United States and Russia, as well as UK national contacts with both the US and Russia.
We also work for greater control of small arms at the UN and OSCE. We have consistently argued for small arms to be included in the Wassenaar Arrangement's information exchanges on arms transfers. In spite of our efforts, the Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary in December 2001 was not able to agree to this move, although Wassenaar has previously agreed guidelines on the transfer of MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defence Systems) because of concerns about exploitation by 186WA terrorists. The 2001 plenary was, however, able to agree that one of Wassenaar's fundamental aims was to prevent arms flows to terrorists.