A two-day international Seminar on ''The Present and Future of Strategic Export Controls'' organized by the Strategic Export Control Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs was opened today. The seminar is aimed at reinforcing networking among export control community and strengthening engagements for promoting regional and international cooperation against the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and their delivery systems. Independent experts and representatives from different regions and countries (including from states which are members of NSG), international export control regimes, UNSCR-1540 Committee, academia and industry are taking part in the seminar.
The Seminar was inaugurated by the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan. The Foreign Secretary welcomed the participants. Earlier, DG SECDIV Dr. Zafar Ali, dilated the purpose and agenda of the seminar. The Foreign Secretary, in her address, reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to the objectives of non-proliferation and export controls and said, Pakistan's strategic export control regime followed international best practices and that export control guidelines, licensing procedures, and control lists were at par with the standards followed by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and Australia Group.
The Foreign Secretary also underscored Pakistan's potential as a supplier state of items of the NSG's lists and had the ability, expertise, infrastructure, and human resource to contribute to the objectives of the multilateral export control regimes. She emphasized that any country-specific exception for NSG membership, that overrode the long-established principles and norms, would be detrimental to the credibility of the global non-proliferation regime.
The Seminar will cover a wide range of topics of contemporary relevance to trade in sensitive goods and technologies including emerging challenges and the latest developments, best practices in implementation, enforcement of export controls and the UN sanctions resolutions. More than 200 local and foreign invitees are taking part in the seminar. The seminar reflects Pakistan's proactive engagement with the international community to strengthen the global non-proliferation architecture.
Islamabad
09 May 2018
