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Written question asked by Lord Judd (Labour) on Monday, 22 March 2021, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 April 2021. It was answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative) on Wednesday, 7 April 2021 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Cruise Missiles: Proliferation

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking within appropriate multilateral institutions to develop a strategic response to the proliferation of cruise missiles (1) to foster maximum transparency, and (2) to develop a coherent safeguarding approach within arms control arrangements.

Answer

The UK is a member of relevant multilateral export control regimes, such as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Wassenaar Arrangement. The MTCR seeks to prevent the proliferation of sensitive missile systems and technologies, including cruise missiles, to countries and end users of concern. The Wassenaar Arrangement in turn seeks to prevent the regional destabilising accumulation of conventional weapons, including cruise missile systems.

The UK plays an active role in both regimes and through them the UK promotes transparency, the control and greater responsibility in transfers of all missiles types, as well as conventional weapons and related dual-use technologies. In addition, the UK is a State Party to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which establishes common international standards for regulating the international trade in conventional arms, which includes cruise missile systems. The ATT requires annual reporting on transfers to reinforce transparency among State Parties.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL14447
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Proliferation Cruise missiles
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk