India will assume the chairmanship of the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) on 1 January 2023, for a period of one year. India will take over from Ireland.
Key points
- Wassenaar Arrangement is a multilateral export control regime which, through regular information exchange among members on transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, seeks to promote transparency and greater responsibility in such transfers and prevent destabilising accumulations.
- The primary goal of the organisation is to restrict access to sensitive technologies for terrorist outfits.
- The Wassenaar Arrangement came into being in 1996 and has 42 members.
- The WA operates on a voluntary basis and decisions are made by consensus.
- The US, the UK, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany and Australia are some key members of the WA. Prominent non-members include China and Israel.
- India joined the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) in 2017 and became its 42nd member.
