More than 65 countries have signed the landmark treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade. The United States however announced that it will sign the treaty soon.

The announcement today by US Secretary of State John Kerry that the US, the world’s largest arms dealer will sign is critical, but the treaty’s ultimate strength rests on support by all major arms exporters and importers.

While the treaty was overwhelmingly approved on April 2 by the UN General Assembly, key arms exporters including Russia and China and major importers including India, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Egypt abstained and have given no indication yet that they will sign it.Signatures are the first step to ratification, and the treaty will only take effect after 50 countries ratify it.

The treaty will require countries that ratify it to establish national regulations to control the transfer of conventional arms and components and to regulate arms brokers,

but it will not control the domestic use of weapons in any country. It prohibits the transfer of conventional weapons if they violate arms embargoes or if they promote acts of

genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, and if they

could be used in attacks on civilians or civilian buildings such as schools and hospitals.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a special event marking the signings that the treaty shows that the world has finally put an end to the ‘free-for-all’ nature of international weapons transfers.