Haiti has officially signed an agreement with the Organization of American States (OAS) to bring two firearm marking machines to the island.

The agreement was signed recently in Port-au-Prince by Justice Minister Jean Renel Sanon and Special Representative of the OAS in Haiti, Frederic Bolduc. The machines, which mark weapons with traceable information such as a serial number and manufacturing information, will go towards helping the Haitian police to curb the growing firearms trade in Haiti. The additional information will help local police identify weapons found at crime scenes and help expose weapon supply lines in the island.

"The agreement demonstrates a strengthening of the ties of friendship and cooperation between the OAS and Haiti," said Minister Renel Sanon. "The project is very welcomed, because these machines will allow for the modernization of the Haitian National Police and protect society from crime."

Haiti is the latest CARICOM country to join the OAS program, called "Promoting Firearms Marking in Latin America and the Caribbean," which seeks to fulfill the Inter-American Convention against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials. Twenty-three countries in the region have already signed up for the project.