News
CITS Helps Promote Strategic Trade Awareness and Compliance in Viet Nam
The Center is helping organize two industry outreach seminars for over 150 representatives of Vietnamese strategic industries to raise their awareness of nonproliferation concerns in international trade and help them comply with the current and future national and international strategic trade control requirements. Vietnam, one of Southeast Asia’s rapidly growing economies, has recently embarked on a program to build nuclear energy facilities and infrastructure and expand its international trade portfolio. The seminars are held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City August 23 and 25, 2011.
CITS Works to Promote Government-Industry Cooperation in Malaysia
CITS hosted Industry-Government Seminars on Strategic Trade Management on 19 July 2011 in Penang, Malaysia and on 21 July 2011 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The main focuses of the seminars were discussions of the elements of an efficient Strategic Trade Control Systems and detailed guidance Malaysian industries representatives throughout the terms and conditions of the recently adopted Malaysian legislation the Strategic Trade Control Act 2010 and possible affects of the business environments and life-styles. The total number of two hundred twenty nine Malaysian Industries representatives participated in both events in Penang and Johor Bahru Cities, Malaysia.
CITS Works to Promote Nonproliferation and Nuclear Security in Indonesia
On July 19-21, 2011, the Center hosted a seminar on nonproliferation and strategic trade management in Jakarta, Indonesia. The objective of the seminar was to raise awareness of the issues surrounding nonproliferation and security of nuclear and other materials related to the weapons of mass destruction among key policy makers, industry and the young generation of nuclear professionals in Indonesia and the Southeast Asia region. The seminar was organized jointly with the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency of Indonesia (BAPETEN) and will feature speakers from the government of Indonesia, foreign governments, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UNSCR 1540 Committee, and other international and nongovernmental organizations. This seminar was the first in a series of three such events, the next two focusing on nuclear safety, security and safeguards. The project is supported through a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Pakistan Industry Seminar
The Center for International Trade & Security organized a three-day seminar in Pakistan entitled “Future of Hi-Tech Industry Development in Pakistan” and made presentations on various aspects of strategic trade controls and technology security. The seminar was organized by the Center jointly with the South Asia Strategic Stability Institute in Islamabad, Pakistan December 7-9, 2010 and featured participants from the Sandia National Laboratory.
KINAC Prepares for 2012 Nuclear Security Summit
The workshop, “Nuclear Security: A Road to the 2012 Summit in Seoul” was held in Seoul, South Korea on August 30, 2010 under joint auspices of CITS and the Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) sponsored the workshop which was attended by over 50 government officials including Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Policy and MOFAT Deputy Minister (Summit Sherpa). It was the first event to kick off the preparation for the 2012 Summit in Seoul.
CARICOM
The primary objective of the CARICOM project is to foster a regional
approach to economic integration and strategic trade control reform with the goal of facilitating legislative drafting processes and developing regulatory mechanisms aimed at fulfilling the CARICOM Community member states’ compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540. Furthermore, the resulting model legal instrument will be sensitive to regional trade and security needs while seeking to integrate or leverage from current CARICOM legal harmonization efforts/initiatives.
Throughout the months of February - July, Center researchers have traveled to CARICOM member states engaging with government officials about the importance of the UNSCR 1540.
International Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)
CITS-UGA recently issued a two-page brief on the International Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) for a defense industry perspective. Most of the world’s major conventional defense companies operate in an intensely regulated market, but the regulatory reach is far from global. Countries have their own rules, legislation and lists, creating a global patchwork of systems ranging from very comprehensive to barely functioning. This generates serious risks for any legitimate defense company trying to conduct its business in a safe, secure and responsible manner. An ATT could create a common international regulatory language thereby facilitating operations, decreasing risk, and improving trading route security.