The Hague, 6 June 2002

Japan has paid its full assessed contribution to the 2002 budget of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

In total, 72 Member States have paid their assessed contributions to the OPCW 2002 budget in full. The total amount of the fully and partially paid contributions to the 2002 OPCW budget equals 88.3% of the total amount assessed to the Member States in 2002. The other 73 Member States are urged to follow suit.

Japan has also made a substantial voluntary financial contribution, amounting to Euro 338,900, to support the training and staff development of the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The contribution has been placed in a Voluntary Trust Fund, thereby guaranteeing transparency and ensuring that the funds will be used to support specific staff development programmes. Funding has been provided for the following four mission-related activities: training with chemical warfare agents ("live agent training"), which is essential to maintain preparedness for exposure to lethal agents in the field; developing and conducting a field exercise of an "Investigation of the Alleged Use" of chemical weapons; certifying paramedics and medical doctors for inspections through the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) programmes, and training in IT disaster management and encryption technology.

The OPCW wishes to record its appreciation for this generous additional, voluntary contribution.