As a prelude to the 'Third Conference of the State Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)' in September 2017, the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PFSALW) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) held a two-day international conference in Dakar on 13-14 June 2017. The conference brought together parliamentarians from countries in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East to improve dialogue and cooperation between stakeholders and parliamentarians on the ATT. The participants discussed the current state of play of the ATT, the national experiences of parliamentarians with ATT universalisation and implementation, the utility of the ATT as a new control regime for small arms and light weapons (SALW) and opportunities to strengthen cooperation between stakeholders to create synergies between parliamentary, civil society and government action on the ATT, UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.4. The conference provided an opportunity to increase ownership and participation in the universalisation and implementation processes of the ATT and other instruments and for the sharing of experiences by parliamentarians.