United Kingdom Destroys All Its Declared Old Chemical Weapons

On 27 March 2007, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, attended the formal announcement by the Armed Forces Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, H.E Mr Adam Ingram, that Britain has destroyed all the old chemical weapons it has declared to the OPCW. The announcement was made at a presentation ceremony held at the Imperial War Museum in London, at which Minister Ingram donated one of the very last shells destroyed to the Museum.   In his presentation, Minister Ingram stated that the completion of the destruction of the United Kingdom’s declared stockpile of old chemical weapons marked a further step in the common effort to rid the world of these terrible weapons. He praised the United Kingdom’s Armed Forces bomb disposal teams and the scientists at DSTL Porton Down for accomplishing the dangerous and challenging task of destroying the heavily corroded and unstable weapons.

In acknowledging this achievement, Director-General Pfirter stated that the United Kingdom has long been an effective and committed advocate and implementer of the global chemical weapons ban. On behalf of the OPCW, Director-General Pfirter expressed his gratitude to the United Kingdom for its strong and unwavering support of the Organisation, commending the United Kingdom for meeting this obligation to destroy its old chemical weapons.

PR20 / 2007

Categories: Disarmament, Western Europe and Other States