Fall, 2005
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| Headquarters of the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Istanbul, Turkey |
This two-day workshop is designed to enhance cooperation and assistance between NATO and Partner countries in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation zone (BSEC) in support of border control efforts to detect, deter and interdict illicit trafficking in weapons of mass destruction.
BSEC was founded in 1992 and the BSEC Charter was signed by all 11 founding member states in 1998: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Article 4 of the BSEC Charter explicitly calls for cooperation between customs and other border authorities, “combating organized crime, illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons and radioactive materials. (www.bsec.gov.tr/charter_.htm)
The Black Sea and Caucasus regions face serious border control WMD trafficking and counter-terrorism challenges caused by a combination of difficult terrain, unresolved regional conflicts, high terrorist activity, established traditional smuggling channels and the presence of undetermined numbers of radioactive sources. For example, many of the 1,000 Russian highly radioactive Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTG) in the region have exhausted their designed service periods and are held in unsecured sites and are either waiting for dismantlement or are simply unaccounted for.
The workshop will assess border control/counter trafficking challenges and shortfalls in the Black Sea Region, and identify means to enhance international strategic and technical cooperation between Black Sea states with regards to customs and other related national authorities. Issues to be considered will include:
- Euro-Atlantic security and integration of the Black Sea region;
- The NATO perspective;
- Regional security challenges and the role of the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation;
- Traditional contraband channels;
- Technical shortfalls;
- International technical cooperation;
- Pooling of resources – training, monitoring and detection equipment etc.
- IAEA TecDocs;
- New technologies;
The workshop is part of the ongoing program of activities of the Illicit Trafficking Working Group established in 2002 at the International Approaches to Nuclear and Radiological Security Conference in London with support from the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Atomic Energy (MinAtom) and the Kurchatov Institute.
The working group convened in September 2004 under NATO auspices at Norton Manor, UK for the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Illicit Trafficking in Weapons of Mass Destruction (http://www.nato.int/science/news/2004/n040910a.htm).
At the conclusion of the Norton Manor workshop, the working group recommended holding a follow-on NATO workshop focused on enhancing NATO and Partner Country cooperation in the Black Sea Region.
The event is by invitation and limited to some 40 participants with representatives from approximately 20 countries.
Illicit Trafficking Workshop Co-Directors:
Dr. W. Duncan Wood, Research Director,
The Institute for Applied Science, Washington, DC, USA
www.iapscience.com
The Honorable Tedo Japaridze, Secretary General,
The Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Georgia
www.bsec.gov.tr
The secretariat for the workshop is provided by the Trilateral Group, London, UK.
For further information contact:
Julia Fairrie, The Trilateral Group
Granville House, 132Sloane Street, London SW1X 9AX, United Kingdom
Tel: (+44) 207 591 4800; Fax: (+44) 207 591 4801
E-mail: Mail@trilat.com
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