A Federal Foreign Office spokesperson issued the following statement in Berlin today (29 March):

“Foreign Minister Westerwelle finds it highly regrettable that after a long and difficult negotiation process, just three states yesterday stood in the way of the consensus needed for a global Arms Trade Treaty.

We need the most global regime possible to regulate the international arms trade; it must provide clear rules for as many categories of weapons as possible, and it must set the highest possible standards for the issuance of export licences.

Although we would have liked far more than the current text, it is nonetheless a first step for greater control of the international arms trade. In Germany’s view, the Arms Trade Treaty should now be voted on soon in the United Nations General Assembly.”