BRUSSELS, May 28 (UPI) -- A forum being held in Brussels is designed to promote greater cooperation on deterring the global threat posed by the illicit small arms and weapons trade.

The three-day conference, which began Wednesday, has brought together security experts from around the world to discuss how to coordinate and harmonize a response to the small arms and light weapons threat.

The Synergy Conference for Regional Organizations on the Implementation of the U.N. Program of Action is co-organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and hosted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the OSCE reported.

The conference is ahead of a planned meeting in New York to discuss the U.N. Program of Action and is aimed at facilitating a debate on the proliferating illicit trade of small arms and light weapons.

"Coordination and cooperation between different organizations is of crucial importance if we want to effectively address the problem of illicit small arms," Ambassador Aapo Polho, head of the mission of Finland to NATO, said in a statement.

"This is one of our priority areas during Finland's OSCE chairmanship, and we believe that this conference will prove useful in helping organizations to learn from each others' experiences and coordinate future action."

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