The Government says that it has been staggered by the number of countries wanting to back its plans for a legally-binding, international arms trade treaty.

Kim Howells, the Foreign Office Minister, said he was "overwhelmed" by the breadth of support for the initiative, and urged governments around the world to get on board.

"There were ambassadors literally queuing up to express their support for the proposals that we announced this morning, and they ranged from very small countries like Mauritius to very large countries like Canada," said Mr Howells, speaking after a meeting in Whitehall with diplomatic representatives from 120 countries and other interested groups.

"It was quite overwhelming, actually, to see the range of support that is there."

There is currently no international agreement on the trade in conventional weapons - such as the ubiquitous AK47 assault rifle, weapon of choice in many of the world's trouble spots, where some conflicts have dragged on for decades.

The lack of an international framework mean that the trade is effectively only regulated to the standard of the country with the least level of control.

The UK Government is leading moves to present a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly next month. This would establish a group of governmental experts to examine the feasibility, scope and parameters of a treaty.

They will report to the UN Secretary-General by late 2008, with negotiations on the treaty itself possibly starting by 2009.

"We are committed to securing a treaty on the trade in all conventional arms," said Mr Howells.

"We believe that a treaty should be legally binding, with monitoring and enforcing mechanisms, and that it should set clear standards when an arms transfer should not take place, including respect for human rights."

Mr Howells, whose brief includes counter-proliferation, said that stopping conventional weapons from falling into the hands of rogue dealers would benefit the whole international community. The United States had not declared support for a treaty, he admiteed, but this could change as the process progressed.

He was candid about the scale of the task, warning: "We’ve got to start this process without preconditions, without scaring anyone to the point at which they are going to say ‘We don’t want anything to do with this’.

"It’s got to be a very delicate and a very sensitive approach."

Gareth Thomas, the International Development Minister, made the case from the perspective of deterring conflicts.

"What we know is that unscrupulous arms dealers who get access to weapons help to make the conflicts that we see around the world last longer, cost more lives and do more damage," he said.

"Violent conflict and violent crime are a huge drain on the scarce resources available for the fight against poverty in many developing countries."

Mr Thomas continued: "We think you can protect the legitimate self-defence needs of countries as well as trying to regulate the arms trade treaty in a more transparent and effective way to stop those unscrupulous arms trade dealers being able to operate in the way that they do at the moment."

Derek Twigg, the new Defence Minister, emphasised that stopping the flow of illicit arms to unstable regions also reduced risks for UK frontline forces.

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