The Hague, 09 October 2002

Seventh Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention Opens

The Seventh Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) convenes in The Hague from 7 to 11 October, 2002. The representatives of 110 States Parties are participating in this session of the Conference.

The Conference of the States Parties, the highest decision-making body of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), meets annually, or more frequently, to discuss and decide upon issues of substantial importance to the implementation of the Convention.

During the Seventh Session, the delegations will be deliberating and deciding upon the following: the extension of the timelines of destruction of the declared chemical weapons stockpile in the Russian Federation, destruction and conversion plans for former chemical weapons production facilities, plans v for the verification of destruction of chemical weapons, and the programme of work and budget for the fiscal year 2003.

Mr Rogelio Pfirter, the Director-General, observed in his opening address to the delegations that the OPCW “ …was in the process of getting back on its feet, after a difficult time, a true test of fire.” The aim of all of the Member States of the Organisation was, as Mr Pfirter summarized, to “ …get rid of chemical weapons and we want to do it as fast and as effectively as possible. We all want to see to it that the verification mechanisms set in motion by the Convention, and put in practice by our inspectorate, functions well, to the satisfaction of the Inspected State Parties and the Member States as a whole.”

Further, Mr Pfirter noted that all State Parties, which have declared Category 2 and 3 chemical weapons, fulfilled their destruction within the five-year timeframe established by the Convention. More than ten percent of the total stockpile declared by four States Parties has already been destroyed under OPCW verification. “The Russian federation is very close to the day when the first kilogram of Category 1 chemical weapons will destroyed at the new destruction facility in the village of Gorny in the Saratov region.”, Mr Pfirter remarked.

It is the profound conviction of the Director-General that “…ours is a Convention for all countries, big and small, concerned and committed to chemical disarmament and for the same reason entitled to benefit from the co-operation activities and the international assistance provided for in the Convention. Therefore international co-operation is an area of the highest political and practical relevance to the objectives of the Convention.”

On behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, Mr Roman-Morey, Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, delivered a message to the Seventh Session of the Conference, which emphasized, “ …vigilance and a renewed commitment to the full implementation of the CWC are more necessary than ever. The terrorist acts of 11 September 2001 in the United States raised new alarms and awareness… We must continue to work towards the universality of the Convention, towards the total destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles, and for a world in which cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry is fostered.”