While many states have offered assistance, problems of cooperation remain. Many of the offers, for example, involve making experts available, while the requests emphasize the need for larger-scale training programs, equipment, and funding. We repeatedly invite both the states making offers of assistance and those requesting assistance to take a proactive approach on a bilateral basis and to make use of the offers from international organizations to contribute to capacity-building. To promote these actions, we have invited organizations and multilateral arrangements, which already have considerable experience, effective tools, and operational practice in controlling the movement of sensitive materials to make further implementation of the resolution a first priority. They are equipped to share valuable knowledge with others, possibly in the form of “most commonly used” or “best national practices,” which can provide states with inspiration in planning or enacting specific national measures. The importance of cooperation with relevant international organizations was recently underscored at an open session of the Security Council where states, as well as international organizations such as the IAEA, explored modalities for practical cooperation.

Beyond this, there are further encouraging examples of successful cooperation with regional organizations. Collaboration between the 1540 Committee and the Forum on the Security Cooperation of the OSCE resulted in the adoption of a decision that supports the national implementation of Resolution 1540. The Forum on Security Cooperation is now working on the development of a set of best practice guides to reflect the structure of the resolution and assist states in the continued development of national action plans. The 1540 Committee is also engaged in useful cooperation with other regional and sub-regional organizations like the OAS and ASEAN, and it will be developing ties and cooperation with CARICOM, MERCOSUR, the African Union and others. With the support of individual member states, donors, NGOs, and international and regional organizations, the Security Council is working to create the necessary momentum to advance a strong global response to the threat of the proliferation of WMD.

All of these efforts represent a change in approach to the traditional international framework to combat WMD proliferation. They make the prevention of the acquisition of WMD, their means of delivery, and related materials by non-state actors a new locus for cooperation, and they put measures related to specific types of WMD in a common international legal framework. The progress made through Resolution 1540 thus far has been promising, but its purpose and potential have by no means been fulfilled. Creating partnerships at the regional, national, and global level devoted to fighting the threat of proliferation is a contemporary necessity, and it is the only way to ensure for an effective system of prevention and protection worldwide.