India will assume the presidency of the Wassenaar Arrangement plenary on January 1, 2023, just five years after joining the 42-member voluntary export control regime that monitors transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods. At the 26th annual plenary meeting of the Wassenaar Arrangement held in Vienna from 30 November to 1 December, Irish Ambassador Eoin O’Leary handed over the chairmanship to Indian Ambassador Jaideep Mazumdar, Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organizations in Vienna.
India joined the Wassenaar Arrangement in December 2017 as its 42nd state party. The body is a multilateral export control regime that promotes transparency and greater accountability in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies through regular exchanges of information among its members. The regime aims to monitor such transfers and prevent a “destabilizing build-up” of conventional weapons and dual-use goods, the foreign ministry said.
The Plenum of the Wassenaar Arrangement is the main decision-making body, which operates on the basis of consensus. As the incoming chair of the body, India “remains ready and committed to work closely with other members to advance WA’s objective of contributing to regional and international security and stability”, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Membership of the Wassenaar Arrangement has also boosted India’s efforts to gain access to sensitive goods and technologies from leading players in the West.
