Infrastructure is another vehicle by which to facilitate a regional approach. Participants recommended building and/or updating facilities; identifying facilities that can serve as regional destruction centers; improving maintenance of facilities and personnel systems; and conducting additional stockpile reduction operations. The obstacles to such activities are largely monetary; governments of the region lack funds for large infrastructure projects and are daunted by the sheer size of the challenge. There is also a lack of full information on the size and content of stockpiles in each country in the region. Regional destruction centers face additional legal hurdles that prevent weapons and ammunition from being transported across national borders.
In order to advance infrastructure improvements, participants recommended undertaking a study to identify how, where, and to what extent funds can be saved through collaborative efforts. They also suggested a study assessing national capabilities in the region and how they could be consolidated to be more cost-effective. (For example, such an assessment already exists for Bosnia.) Governments of the region could prioritize high-profile, "quick-win" projects -- such as destruction events or stockpile security improvements -- to create momentum and political will for further stockpile reduction efforts.
