Inter-American Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons Acquisitions


Preparatory Meetings


First Conference of the States Parties to the Inter-American Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons Acquisitions (December 3, 2009 Washington, D. C.)

On December 3, 2009, was held at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS), the First Conference of States Parties to the Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons Acquisitions.

Taking part were delegations from the following states parties to the Convention: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Delegations were also present from the following states that had signed but not ratified the Convention: Colombia, Costa Rica, Haiti, Mexico, and the United States. Also participating was a delegation from a non-party state: The Bahamas. Likewise, representatives of the permanent observer missions of Austria, Azerbaijan, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain took part in the conference.

The purpose of the Conference was to examine the functioning and application of the Convention and to consider further transparency measures consistent with the objective of the Convention, including modifications to the categories of conventional weapons in Annex I. Also, it mentioned the challenges of generalization of the Convention, through an increase in the number of ratifications.