Iceland and Ireland co-chair the Missile Technology Control Regime

Iceland and Ireland will co-chair the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) from 2017-2018. The MTCR aims at limiting the proliferation of distribution technology, such as missiles for weapons of mass destruction. The regime is a key element of the global disarmament effort, and chairmanship of the regime is rotated between its members. Iceland and Ireland assumed the chairmanship at the annual meeting of the MTCR today from outgoing Chairman Ham Sang-wook of the Republic of Korea. This is the first time that both Iceland and Ireland will chair the MTCR.

“Disarmament and supervision of missile technology is essential to the efforts to reach peaceful resolutions of conflicts, and to uphold peace and security, as the events of the past few months have shown,” said Foreign Minister Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson. “We have been shown a great deal of trust with the request to co-chair the MTCR with Ireland. This is a prominent position in international affairs, and a visible contribution to disarmament and supervision, which are key to Icelandic foreign policy as well as our National Security Policy. Additionally, this provides opportunities for increased cooperation with our friends in Ireland,” FM Þórðarson said.

MTCR is an informal political understanding among 35 nations, including the United States of America and the Russian Federation. It was founded in 1987 and works to prevent the proliferation of unmanned distribution systems for weapons of mass destruction. Iceland became a member of the regime in 1993 and fulfills its obligations on the basis of the Law on Export Permits no. 4/1998.