Regional confidence-building measures: activities of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa A/RES/74/73 Welcoming the progress made by the States members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin in making the Multinational Joint Task Force operational in order to combat effectively the threat posed by the Boko Haram terrorist group to the Lake Chad basin region, Welcoming also the adoption by the Lake Chad Basin Commission, with the support of the African Union, of the Regional Stabilization, Recovery and Resilience Strategy for Areas Affected by Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin Region in Abuja on 30 August 2018, Bearing in mind Security Council resolution 2349 (2017) of 31 March 2017, in which the Council called for, inter alia, increased assistance to the countries of the region, Considering the urgent need to prevent the possible movement of illicit weapons, mercenaries and combatants involved in conflicts in the Sahel and in neighbouring countries in the Central African subregion, 1. Reaffirms its support for efforts aimed at promoting confidence-building measures at the regional and subregional levels in order to ease tensions and conflicts in Central Africa and to further sustainable peace, stability and development in the subregion; 2. Welcomes and encourages the initiative of the States members of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa to further develop collaboration and synergies with the Economic Community of Central African States, in particular the Commission for Defence and Security, including by means of closed meetings, with a view to promoting the implementation of the regional strategy for combating terrorism and the trafficking in small arms and light weapons in Central Africa adopted by the Committee; 3. Welcomes the adoption by the Standing Advisory Committee of the Kigali Declaration on the Reform of the Council for Peace and Security in Central Africa, 11 and urges the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee and the international community to provide technical and financial supp ort to accelerate the reform of the Council; 4. Also welcomes efforts under way by the Standing Advisory Committee and its secretariat to implement the communication strategy adopted at the forty -fifth ministerial meeting of the Committee, held in Kigali from 4 to 8 December 2017, and encourages Member States and other partners to support initiatives aimed at increasing the visibility of the Committee, including among the populations of the subregion, in cooperation with civil society; 5. Reaffirms the importance of disarmament and arms control programmes in Central Africa carried out by the States of the subregion with the support of the United Nations, the African Union and other international partners; 6. Encourages Member States to provide assistance to those States members of the Standing Advisory Committee that have ratified the Arms Trade Treaty, 12 and encourages those that have not yet done so to ratify the Treaty; 7. Encourages States members of the Standing Advisory Committee and other interested States to provide financial support for the implementation of the Central African Convention for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Their Ammunition and All Parts and Components That Can Be Used for Their Manufacture, __________________ 11 12 4/7 Ibid., annex II. See resolution 67/234 B. 19-21874