September saw the first of two regional workshops aimed at engaging Transport Service Providers (TSPs) as counter-proliferation partners, take place in Malta for the Middle East and North Africa region.
The workshop, hosted by SIPRI in partnership with Malta Customs, brought together representatives from a wide range of transportation sector actors, including Freeport operators, eCommerce, fast parcel, port operators and shipping lines. Participation from the dual use manufacturing industry came in the form of two global companies: Rolls Royce and Gentherm. Public sector interest was represented by UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UN Expert Panel Members (Iran and DPRK), World Customs Organisation (WCO), Royal United Service Institute, European Commission Joint Research Centre and Customs officials from across the region.
Panel sessions and presentations by leading industry and public sector experts were followed by a number of breakout sessions that explored the challenges facing the transport sector and pinpointed areas of possible good practice for both transportation and the public sector alike.
Each breakout team had participants from both the private and public sectors to ensure a truly balanced input and view.
The breakout sessions proved to be extremely popular for all participants and identified numerous areas of potential good practice which were then elaborated by other groups later in the workshop.
The output of the Malta workshop will be further developed over the coming weeks and taken forward as a basis for the Asia region workshop in Hong Kong in November.
Based upon the Malta experience, expectations for the Hong Kong workshop are building with a wide range of industry and public sector participants already confirmed.