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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/27/2008
Posts: 376
Location: London, UK
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On May 6-7, 2009, the United States government hosted a workshop in Zagreb, Croatia to launch the South East Europe Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR). The workshop was attended by representatives from the Ministries of Defense and General Staffs of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia; U.S. government officials from the Departments of State and Defense; and representatives of NATO, NAMSA, OSCE and UNDP. Also attending were representatives from EOD Solutions, the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance, the Mine Action Information Center, the Regional Center for Security Cooperation, Small Arms Survey, and the South East Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC). Kosovo and Macedonia were also invited to the first RASR workshop, but declined to attend, though they may participate in future meetings. Participants identified five priority issues where the RASR can facilitate greater coordination amongst actors involved in conventional weapons reduction:
1. national and regional policy
2. infrastructure
3. training, education, and capacity building
4. sharing of information and best practices
5. standardization
The fourth RASR workshop was held in June 2011.
For more information, visit the RASR Initiative website
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/27/2008
Posts: 376
Location: London, UK
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The Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) is a long-term, coordinated, regional approach to address the threats posed by excess, unstable, loosely secured or otherwise at-risk stockpiles of conventional weapons and munitions in South-east Europe. RASR's ultimate goal is to contribute to regional security by working to prevent disastrous explosions and destabilizing diversions of stockpiled conventional weapons and ammunition.
In support of the 5th RASR Workshop this week in Durrës, Albania, two new publications have been released by RASR, the US Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, and the Small Arms Survey.
1. A Special Report, Capabilities and Capacities: A Survey of South-east Europe’s Demilitarization Infrastructure provides regional physical security and stockpile management (PSSM) stakeholders with a clear, concise, and comparative overview of South-east European capabilities and capacities for the demilitarization of surplus weapons and ammunition.
2. An Issue Brief, Buy and Burn: Factoring Demilitarization into Ammunition Procurement, aims to increase participating states’ awareness of the future costs they will incur in disposing of the weapons and ammunition that they acquire today. It also profiles the options for reducing demilitarization costs in the future—including offsetting disposal costs in the purchase price and ‘design for demil’ technologies—and the impact this is likely to have on states’ retention of surpluses in the future.
Source: Small Arms SurveyFile Attachment(s):
 SAS-SR15-South-East-Europe-Demilitarization.pdf (2,491kb) downloaded 7 time(s).
SAS-RASR-IB2-Buy-and-Burn.pdf (1,182kb) downloaded 8 time(s).
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/27/2008
Posts: 376
Location: London, UK
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The Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) initiative for South East Europe held its 5th Workshop in Durres, Albania on 23-25 April with the support of the Albanian Ministry of Defence. The RASR initiative is a regional initiative which aims to coordinate and support countries of South East Europe and regional organisations in their efforts to reduce unstable and excess stockpiles of conventional weapons and munitions.
The workshop gathers senior military officers and munitions experts from throughout South East Europe providing them with a platform to share useful practices on stockpile reduction and that way strengthen local capacities. The RASR initiative is coordinated by the RASR Steering Committee members: ITF Enhancing Human Security, NATO Maintenance and Support Agency (NAMSA), RACVIAC, UNDP/SEESAC and Small Arms Survey with the assistance from the U.S. Department of State. This year, UNDP/SEESAC serves as the RASR chair.
The Workshop in Durres was opened by the Albanian Minister of Defence, Mr. Arben Imami, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Albania, Ms. Deborah Jones, and UNDP/SEESAC’s Team Leader a.i., Dr. Ivan Zverzhanovski, the current Chair of RASR (see presentation). The first day of the Workshop consisted of 3 sessions, each focused on a specific activity dealing with stockpile reduction.
The National and Regional Policy session provided an in-depth overview of the efforts and best practices in reduction of surplus weapons of Albania, the Albanian Mines and Munitions Coordination Office, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria. This session also included presentations from guest speakers from EUFOR, Small Arms Survey and Sterling International.
The session on Infrastructure offered constructive summaries of national programmes in Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro.
Finally, the Workshop’s session on Training, Education and Building Capacity saw representatives from the Swiss Armed Forces, the United States Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Explosive Safety Board from the U.S. Department of State and UNDP/SEESAC discuss technical assistance and support of demilitarization in South East Europe.
The second day of the Workshop was hosted by the Albanian Ministry of Defense which provided RASR participants with a unique opportunity to visit the demilitarization facility ULP Mjekes-Elbasan and see first-hand the infrastructure and potentials of Albania on its path towards reducing its surplus stocks of ammunition and a creating safer and more secure country.
Source: SEESAC
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