France remains committed in its role as a key contributor to the Western Balkans Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Control Roadmap Multi-Partner Trust Fund(MPTF) with a new contribution to this pooled fund worth 100,000 EUR.

"Small arms and light weapons are still a threat both to the people of the Western Balkans, as gun violence incidents have shown recently, and at the regional level. France remains committed to address this issue with all its partners,”

H. E. Olivier Caron, Ambassador-at-large for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime International Strategy, said on this occasion.

He highlighted that MTPF had enabled concrete outcomes in the prevention of SALW proliferation in the Western Balkans, with significant achievements made vis-à-vis infrastructure, including state-of-the-art ballistic labs and safe storage units. “Laws and by-laws must follow suit in order to provide a robust framework enabling to tackle all SALW-related issues” he added.

“I’d like to commend the dedication of all our partners in the region whose determination is the real driving force of the SALW Control Roadmap, and which will allow us to fully achieve Roadmap goals”, the Ambassador concluded.

The Multi-Partner Trust Fund supports a donor-coordinated approach to the implementation of the Roadmap for a sustainable solution to the illegal possession, misuse and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition in the Western Balkans. It strengthens coordination, planning and communication among all partners, fosters collaboration, and reduces risks to governments and financial contributors through a comprehensive risk and results-based management system.

Established in March 2019 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as Participating UN Organisations, the Trust Fund has benefitted from a strong cooperation with Germany and France, as the initiators of the Roadmap, that were soon joined by the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. Due to the generosity and commitment of these donors, the Trust Fund mobilised contributions exceeding USD 27.6 million.

Thus far, the Trust Fund’s Steering Committee approved for funding 25 projects in support of the Roadmap implementation, with a value of US$ 26.7 million. The projects are implemented by the Participating UN Organisations, UNDP and UNODC, across the Western Balkans region. UNDP SEESAC functions as the Secretariat of the Trust Fund and is responsible for the overall coordination and monitoring of the Trust Fund, providing technical, management, planning and programming support.