OPCW Director-General attends opening of the African Union Summit in Libya, meets Chairperson Konare

On 4 July 2005, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, attended the opening of the Fifth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, held in Sirte , Libya.

Director-General Pfirter met the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Alpha Oumar Konare, to discuss developments in the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

During their meeting, Chairperson Konare and Director-General Pfirter agreed to further reinforce the cooperation and intensify the contact between the African Union and the OPCW, in order to strengthen the ban on chemical weapons and to ensure that the African continent will be a Zone free of chemical weapons.

Chairperson Konare extended an invitation to the Director-General to undertake a bilateral working visit to Commission's headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia before the end of the year.

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