In May 2015 the African Union, BICC, and the German Federal Foreign Office launched the joint AU–Germany project on 'Enhanced Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Control and Physical Security and Stockpile Management (PSSM) in the Greater Sahel.' The project has been undertaken as part of Germany’s current presidency of the Group of Seven (G7). The rationale behind the project is twofold. Firstly, the project aims to improve the co-ordination of the large array of counter-proliferation initiatives currently ongoing in the Sahel and its surrounds (including West Africa and the Maghreb). Secondly, by improving co-ordination and reducing programmatic duplication, the project aims to more effectively match the increasingly limited resources of donors with the needs of Greater Sahelian countries. The project also forms part of the African Union’s Nouakchott process on the enhancement of security co-operation and the operationalisation of the African Peace and Security Architecture in the Sahelo–Saharan region.