The Hague, 17 October 2003

CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION CONFERENCE CONVENES

The Eighth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention will convene in The Hague from 20 to 24 October 2003.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Convention's implementing agency, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), aims to achieve four principal objectives: the elimination of chemical weapons and the capacity to develop them, the verification of non-proliferation, international assistance and protection in the event of the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons, and international cooperation in the peaceful use of chemistry.

Delegations from over 100 of the Organisation’s 157 Member States (including the three Contracting States Parties Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Cape Verde) will be attending the meeting. In addition, the Signatory States, Israel and Chad, as well as Libya, a non-Signatory State, will be attending the Conference as Observer States.

This annual Conference, which is the OPCW’s principal policy-making organ, will consider several agenda items, including:

° Requests for the extension of intermediate deadlines for the destruction of category 1 chemical weapons;
° An action plan to foster the full and effective implementation by all States Parties of national implementation measures as foreseen by the Convention;
° The election of 20 new Members to the Executive Council, the 41-Member State policy-making body that oversees the practical implementation of the Convention, whose two-year term will begin on 12 May 2004; and
° The Programme of Work and the Budget for 2004.

The Eighth Session will be convened as of 10.00, Monday, 20 October 2003, in the Netherlands Congress Centre, The Hague.

Accreditation for media representatives can be undertaken by fax to the Media and Public Affairs Branch (+31 70 416 3044). For further information, please see http://www.opcw.org/csp8/ or contact the Media and Public Affairs Branch: Ms Aabha Dixit, (+ 31 70 416 3244), Mr Pere Mora Romà, (+ 31 70 416 3838) or Mr Peter Kaiser, (+ 31 65 327 4684).