Arms control, important for regional stability

TIRANA, Nov. 22 – The international arms control symposium was held Tuesday in capital Tirana where Albania and other participants discussed ways to keep the arms under control and increase trust in the region and more.
Albanian deputy Defense Minister Arjan Starova, OSCE head Eugen Wollfarth, head of the Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance Centre working in the South Eastern Europe (RACVIAC) Nikola Todorcevski and other international personalities took part at the symposium.
Starova said that his country has made much in arms control but also much more remains to be done there. He said that “arms control remains important for preserving peace and stability.”
All participants emphasized that the issue of arms control is of the greatest significance and importance.
Wollfarth said that the OSCE has been engaged in this area from the beginning considering it “a key issue when international security is on the table.”
It is very important to discuss such an issue in the Balkans region, once considered as the powder keg and which was covered by many wars in former Yugoslavia, leaving hundreds of thousands of dead.
After the end of the Cold war, the issue of arms control seemed to be done and that other issues were more interesting to be addressed. But that did not prove true.
Many stockpiles of weapons are in each country in the region, Albania included. They are very dangerous and put individual and collective security at risk.
The OSCE considers the arms control as a very crucial security issue and remains important for the maintenance of peace and stability as a politico-military issue.
On Albania it was mentioned the excessive stockpiling of surplus conventional ammunition and small arms and light weapons not properly secured or controlled still as a considerable risk.
Since its accession to the OSCE in 1991, Albania has endorsed all OSCE Documents that pave the way to greater arms control, showing its clear political will to take its responsibilities on this issue seriously. But much remains to be done yet.
Albania has pledged to get rid of its excess ammunition until 2013. Together with other international institutions and countries, NATO and its members the government is committed to a continuous project on their dismantle.