New Delhi: India will take over for a year as chairman of the Wassenaar Arrangement plenary. The Wassenaar Arrangement, which has 42 members, is a voluntary export control system that keeps track of transfers of conventional weapons and products with dual uses. The chairmanship of the Wassenaar Arrangement was passed from the ambassador of Ireland, Eoin O’Leary, to the permanent representative of India to the UN and other international organisations in Vienna, Jaideep Mazumdar, at the 26th annual plenary of the Wassenaar Arrangement, which was held in Vienna from November 30 to December 1. In December 2017, India became the 42nd member of the Wassenaar Arrangement.
The Wassenaar Arrangement is a multilateral export control framework that uses routine information exchanges among its members to encourage transparency and increased responsibility in transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use commodities and technologies. The regime aims to monitor such transfers and stop “destabilising accumulations” of dual-use items and conventional weapons.
The Wassenaar Arrangement’s primary consensus-based decision-making body is the plenary. India “remains ready and committed to work in close cooperation with other members to further the Wassenaar Arrangement goal of contributing to regional and international security and stability,” the external affairs ministry stated. India will take over as the organization’s new chair in the coming months. Being a member of the Wassenaar Arrangement has also helped India in its quest to obtain sensitive products and technologies from powerful Western players.