Outreach
The Wassenaar Arrangement conducts a variety of outreach activities aimed at encouraging broad adoption of WA standards and promoting effective national export control systems.
The Wassenaar Arrangement organizes two regular collective outreach events in Vienna for interested outreach partners (currently 45 countries):
- Post-Plenary Briefing on the results of the annual Plenary meeting.
- Enhanced Technical Briefing on changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement Control Lists and licensing and enforcement issues. This event is normally organized to facilitate participation by Wassenaar Arrangement technical experts and licensing and enforcement officers in order to encourage expert exchanges and the sharing of practical implementation experience.
Periodically the Wassenaar Arrangement organises outreach seminars and workshops or other events.
The Wassenaar Arrangement also conducts outreach dialogue with individual countries and from time to time may undertake bilateral outreach visits upon invitation from an interested country, as agreed by the Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary.
The WA Secretariat interacts on a regular basis with a variety of international and regional organisations engaged in related activities. In addition, the Arrangement has contacts with other export control regimes on specific control list issues of a technical nature.
Other activities to raise awareness of the Wassenaar Arrangement’s work include seminars, workshops and participation in international conferences in various parts of the world which often include representatives from industry and academia, as well as governments. A number of Wassenaar Arrangement Participating States also undertake export controls-related outreach on a national or regional basis, including by organizing events aimed at engagement with countries in specific regions.
If a country would like to participate in Wassenaar Arrangement outreach activities, it should officially register its interest through the current Plenary Chair or the WA Secretariat.
Recent outreach:
- WA contributes to WTO publication on international export regulations
The Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) contributed to a World Trade Organization (WTO) publication on “International export regulations and controls: Navigating the global framework beyond WTO rules”. The publication was prepared by the WTO’s Market Access Division and includes contributions from a number of multilateral export control bodies. A representative of India, WA Plenary Chair for 2023, joined the launch event held during the WTO Public Forum in Geneva on 15 September. The publication can be accessed here.
- WA Plenary Chair and Secretariat Brief 2023 UN Disarmament Fellows, 6 September 2023
During their study visit to Vienna, the 2023 United Nations Disarmament Fellows were welcomed at the Wassenaar Arrangement premises by Ambassador Jaideep Mazumdar (India), WA Plenary Chair for 2023, and Head of Secretariat Ambassador György Molnár. The Fellows were briefed on the policy aspects of the Arrangement’s work and were introduced to the WA Control Lists by Senior Officer Vincent Fleuriot. The Fellows represented 25 countries, including seven WA Participating States. The visit, arranged by the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, is the ninth hosted by the WA since 2014.