Allow me to congratulate you on your second draft of the conference program of action. We recognize that it is not easy to produce a balanced draft that all nations will embrace. Nevertheless we found the most recent draft to be focused and concise, as well as a serious attempt to represent the core ideas put before this conference. We therefore believe it will serve as a good basis for continuing our substantive work.

We want to work towards the most practical and effective program of action -- one worthy of consensus support -- and therefore, for the best possible outcome to the conference. A broadly acceptable approach will stand the best chance of keeping small arms and light weapons out of the hands of those who would use them to expand the numbers of innocent people killed.

Mr. Chairman, we would like to use this occasion to reiterate a proposal the U.S. first introduced at the second Oslo conference on brokering, as well as make several other suggestions for strengthening key aspects of the draft.

Lack of regulation of international brokers is an issue at the very heart of the global illicit small arms/light weapons trade. We thus support including aggressive follow-up measures addressing this issue in the program of action.

You may recall that at the Oslo conference in December of last year, it was the U.S. that proposed investigating the feasibility of developing "model brokering regulations." Now that the firearms protocol negotiations and the UN experts study on the feasibility of restricting manufacturing to authorized dealers have been completed, we believe it is time to revisit this idea.

Such regulations could serve as a guide to countries wishing to develop their own brokering legislation and as the basis for harmonizing the laws of countries which currently already have brokering laws.

By suggesting developing common understandings of the basic issues and the scope of the problem, we believe the current text is headed in the right direction. However, we believe it could go one step further and suggest an appropriate venue to begin the actual development of model brokering regulations. Exchanges of views on such regulations could logically take place in the context of states parties to the firearms protocol, or in a conference such as a follow-up to Oslo II.

Mr. Chairman, the United States was especially pleased to see in the current text the emphasis you placed on export controls and their enforcement. Since effective export controls are the keystone of any successful effort to mitigate the problems of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons -- as well as to better control legal transfers -- we also believe it is essential that we go as far as possible in this area. Therefore we would encourage amplification of the following themes:

Third-party transfers are a major source of the diversion of legal arms into the illegal market. In order to effectively curb such diversions, importing countries must assure proper end-use of arms they import. Furthermore, exporting countries must provide oversight through end-use checks and demanding authority to approve any retransfers.

While the current text in section II, paragraph 11, only urges notification to exporters, it is the U.S. view that "urging notification" does not go far enough. The text should call for adequate retransfer authority. We would be pleased to work with other concerned countries to prepare language to strengthen this section.

Mr. Chairman, I want you and all the delegations here to know that the U.S. does indeed practice what it preaches in this regard. It is well known that over the last five years we have discontinued transfers to five countries either because of abnormalities in their requested import of small arms and light weapons, or due to violations of re-export authority. We also have an aggressive program, which seeks to verify that our end-use and retransfer rules are being obeyed.

Secondly, Mr. Chairman, we know that there are many reasons why embargo enforcement is a difficult problem. That is why we would like to acknowledge and encourage the outstanding work that Ambassador Fowler of Canada has been doing in this regard.

It is deeply disturbing that many countries consider compliance with UNSC sanctions or embargoes to be optional or voluntary. UNSC decisions are legally-binding and all member states should respect them fully. Despite the force of UNSC sanctions, with regard to arms embargoes, we believe there are additional steps national governments can take. We will therefore be suggesting language in the draft that encourages states to implement national measures to impose criminal sanctions on violators of UNSC embargoes.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, allow me to make a statement about the just completed negotiations in Vienna. Under difficult circumstances, our negotiating teams there succeeded in reaching agreement.

Their efforts deserve our praise. I believe our gratitude can best be shown by insuring that what we do here does not duplicate the accomplishments made there, but remains consistent with, and adds value to them.

These are the comments I wish to offer at this time Mr. Chairman, however, the U.S. will have further comments on these and other points as we begin a paragraph-by-paragraph read-through of the text. You can be assured, Mr. Chairman, that the United States will work constructively with you and other delegations to reach a text which can be agreed by all and which commits nations to take practical and effective steps to deal with the serious problem of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.