Wassenaar arrangement

In news: India to assume chairmanship of Wassenaar arrangement on 1 Jan 2023

• India has also assumed the presidency of the UNSC.

Wassenaar arrangement:

• Established in 1996
• It is a voluntary multilateral export control regime.
• Member states exchange information on various issues like transfer of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies.
• India became a member of the Arrangement in 2017.

Aim:

• To promote “greater responsibility” and transparency among its members in exports of weapons and dual-use goods.

• Controlling the movement of technology, material or components to countries or entities which undermine international security and stability.
• To prevent “destabilizing accumulations”

Procedure:

• Wassenaar members lack veto authority over other member’s proposed exports.

• Its predecessor was the Cold War-era Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), which was created to restrict exports to the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc.
• The plenary comprising all 42 countries of the group, is the primary decision-making body and is chaired on a rotation basis annually.
• The decisions of the plenary are taken by consensus.

Significance:

• India would be able to prevent arms diversion to terrorists or to sovereign nations supporting terrorism.
• India could play a significant role in democratising access to technologies and processes that can serve as crucial building blocks for the newly emerging defence and space manufacturing sectors in India.
• India is slowly emerging as a low-cost producer of several items in the WA’s control lists.
• Establishing the credibility of the country as a responsible stakeholder in the global non-proliferation architecture.

Source: NewsOnAir

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) What is/are the consequence/consequences of a country becoming the member of the ‘Nuclear Suppliers Group’? (2018)

1. It will have access to the latest and most efficient nuclear technologies.
2. It automatically becomes a member of “The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)”.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2