Preparedness have been features of international relations, weapons have beenprincipal comnodities of international trade. Over the past 20 years, hooever.conventional arns transfers have acquired particularly 6erious inplications as Chegrowth of such transfers indica[es. In less than tso decades, Ehe total annualvalue of inlernational arms sales has j urnped fron g3.8 billion to over $30 billion. !,toreover, the quanlitative lncrease in arns transfers has been accompanied by dranatic gualitative inprovenents. i{bereas transfers fron advancednations traditionally cornpr i sed older eeapons, in recent years the Cransfer or saleof nore Eechnologically sophisticated weapons has becooe comlE\$rlace.A/ 40/5s3 English Page 45 I72. Establ-ishing criteria for restraining tbe flow of arns botb quantitatively andqualitat.ively has been proposd at. Ehe United Nations, but not acted upor,. Hooever, neasures in this regard have alreaaly been taken in Latin America lrhere 20 tatin Al0erican and caribbean nat.ions agreed ln 1978 to exchange information on lreapon Purchases r'ith the goal of yorking touard greater restraints on arms transfers. 173. The probLen of arns transfers ia a cooplex one, Between 1977 and 1979, the Soviet Union and the United Stsates held talks for Ehe purpose of establishingguidelines to linit the transfer of conventional arms. The resumption of talkslike these should be considered. Curbing the arns race rdill require a co-ordinatedttultinat ionat approach. Moreover, recipien! nations night conaider the example of the Latin ADerican nation8 in adopt.irq guidelines to restrain the flo, of arma Eopart.icular regions. In particular, it ls in the interese of nations ln every region to bar or linit ueapons that will have the effect of enhancing the offensivecapabilitieg of potential adversaries and,/or increasing the incentive for Pre-emptive action in a tirE of crisis. The subject of arms Cransfers' phich arouseg lurny concerns. wag one of the isguee addregaed in tbe Study on Conventional Disarmament carried out by the Unlted Natione (A/39/3481 . 174. whatever political arrangeuents may be reached. in Europe the c€ntinuingconpetition in both conventional and nuclear forces posea a serious obstacle tocreating an alnosphere of mutual confidence and security. Achieving a rough parity
**Analysis**
The text discusses the issue of arms transfers between nations, their implications, and the need for restraint. It highlights the quantitative and qualitative increase in arms sales over the past 20 years and the challenges in establishing criteria for limiting these transfers. The text also mentions the importance of creating an atmosphere of mutual confidence and security, and the need for a coordinated approach to curb the arms race.

**Category**
International trade, Security