Bulgaria signs the UN Arms Trade Treaty
03 July 2013 News
Bulgaria is the 77th country to sign the Arms Trade Treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly on April 2, 2013. The Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the United Nations in NewYork, Stephan Tafrov, signed the Arms Trade Treaty on behalf of the Republic of Bulgaria on July 2, 2013.
The Treaty will make a significant contribution to ensuring peace, security and stability in a global perspective, respect for human rights and international humanitarian law and the fight against terrorism and organized crime. Bulgaria considers it vital that the Treaty enter into force as soon as possible and be effectively implemented. TheTreaty will improve the present regulations of the global trade in conventional weapons, while simultaneously increase the transparency in the arms trade sector.
The ATT negotiations were among the priorities of Bulgaria and the EU in the export control and conventional arms trade area. Bulgaria has been an active supporter of the initiative for an arms trade treaty since the very beginning and has been an active participant in the negotiation process as one of the vice- chairs of the Open-ended group in 2009, and subsequently of the Preparatory Committee to the UN ATT Conference in the period 2010-2012.