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# 									Joint Statement on the PSI Western Hemisphere 2024 Workshop and Tabletop Exercise							

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

March 22, 2024

*The text of the following statement was released by the Government of the Republic of Chile and the Government of the United States of America on the occasion of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) Western Hemisphere 2024 Workshop and Tabletop Exercise.*

The Republic of Chile and the United States of America co-hosted a Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) Western Hemisphere Workshop and Tabletop Exercise (TTX) in Santiago, Chile on March 20-21, 2024. This meeting was co-chaired by Chilean Ambassador Ignacio Llanos, Director for International and Human Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and U.S. Head of Delegation, Mr. Michael Droz, Deputy Director of Operations, U.S. Southern Command.

The PSI meeting fulfilled a commitment made by Chile following the previous PSI Western Hemisphere event held in Miami in January 2023 and featured more than 80 representatives of 12 countries primarily from North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean.

Ambassador Ignacio Llanos, Director of the MFA’s International and Human Security Division, delivered opening remarks highlighting the importance of the PSI in the Western Hemisphere in advancing global security with a South American Perspective, and the importance of international effort to stop the proliferation of WMD, related materials, and delivery systems. Mr. Droz underscored the significance of the Western Hemisphere PSI events and the cooperation among PSI partners in the region. He also noted that PSI is one of the activities specifically highlighted in the U.S. Department of Defense’s 2023 CWMD Strategy, and PSI engagements are critical to countering the spread of WMD and related materials.

Over the course of the event, civilian and military leaders from Argentina, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, and the United States examined modern weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation pathways, improved understanding of WMD interdiction obligations, explored the legal frameworks and the best practices of partners, and enhanced the connections of the Countering WMD community in the Western Hemisphere.

The workshop’s briefs, panel discussions, and scenario-based tabletop discussion focused on intra-governmental information sharing, best practices, and decision-making about potential

WMD-related proliferation activities in the region, including Chile’s perspective on regulation of dual-use and defense materials.

Additionally, various Chilean agencies analyzed the implications of the forthcoming enactment of Chile’s law creating the Strategic Trade Commission and regulating the export of dual-use and defense-related materials and other matters, which is directly related to the themes addressed in the PSI Workshop. That law, they pointed out, would enable Chile to progress in its efforts to join different export control regimes.

The PSI was established in 2003 to stop or impede transfers of WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials flowing to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern. Thus far, 111 states have endorsed the PSI Statement of Interdiction Principles. Chile and the United States encourage all countries in the Western Hemisphere to endorse the PSI as a visible commitment to further develop relationships with like-minded states to foster the increased collaboration needed to address today’s proliferation challenges.

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