ShareCAIRO: The Arab League and the European Union stressed on Monday the importance of combating illegal trade and spread of light arms and small weapons in the Arab countries. This came in a speech delivered by Deputy Assistance for Arabic Affairs and National Security Sector at the Arab League Ambassador Khalil Al-Thawwadi during the international conference on combating the trafficking and proliferation of small arms.
Thawwadi said that the conference represents a new era of cooperation between the two organization in the fields of disarmaments and prevention, hoping the outcomes will be "fruitful and affective". The conference will enhance efforts by the two institutions to implements the UN work program related to combat these weapons at the national, regional and international levels, he noted.
He stresses that the small arms have become one of the main causes of destabilization, increased regional tensions, and expansion of terrorist and criminal networks and conflicts that are destroying local communities and contributing to prolonging conflicts. He referred to some Arab countries witnessing internal conflicts in the past few years that resulted in increasing the use of illegal small arms and light weapons, and prolonged conflicts that extended not only for neighboring countries but also for the international community.
He stressed that the Arab League is fully aware of the dangers of the illegal trade in arms and its political, economic, social and humanitarian effects on individuals and societies. Ambassador Thawwadi called for limiting the trade in these weapons between governments, stressing the importance of international assistance and cooperation to support national efforts to track and detect smuggled weapons.
European Union Ambassador to Egypt Christian Burger said that the spread of small arms and light weapons ease the criminal violence in the Arabic Countries, leading to casualties and deaths. In his speech, Ambassador Burger said that this issue is a priority to the EU, which has allocated EURO six million to finance the second phase of the cooperation project between the Arab League and the Union "within the framework of the strategic dialogue between the two organizations launched in 2019.
Kuwait is participating in the conference with a delegation headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Talal Al-Mutairi from Weapons Investigation Department at the Ministry of Interior, and Membership of Lieutenant-Colonel Abdul Aziz Al-Maili from General Department of Weapons Investigations at the Ministry. The conference will also discuss issues of international transfer of small and light weapons, border control, prevention of arms flows, identification and disruption of sources of small arms, capacity building of law enforcement agencies, among others. - KUNA
