Chemical Weapons Ban Conference Concludes

The Ninth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) concluded successfully on 2 December 2004. The Conference of the States Parties, the highest policy-making organ of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) comprising 167 Member States, convened in The Hague from 29 November to 2 December 2004.

Over 600 delegates from 108 Member States; four Signatory States, including Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras and Israel; as well as Iraq, a State not party; five International Organisations, including the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League of Arab States, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organisation; in addition to thirteen Non-Governmental Organisations, participated in the Ninth Session, the largest number of attendees since the CWC's entry into force in 1997.

A number of important decisions have been taken by the Ninth Session of Conference of the States Parties to ensure the continued, effective implementation of the CWC.

The Conference of the States Parties approved Libya 's request to convert chemical weapons production facilities into a pharmaceuticals plant to produce low-cost vaccines to be distributed to the African market. These vaccines are urgently required in the treatment of AIDS/HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.

The Conference of the States Parties also granted Albania and Libya extensions of the intermediate deadlines for the destruction of their Category 1 chemical weapons. Both Albania and Libya are committed to meeting the final deadline for the complete destruction of their Category 1 chemical weapons by 29 April 2007.

The programme and budget for 2005 has been approved by the Conference of the States Parties. The budget totals Euro 75,695,000, of which 50% is allocated to the implementation of the CWC's verification regime.

The Conference of the States Parties further reaffirmed the objectives of the Action Plans to ensure the universality of the Convention, as well as the effective national implementation of the CWC by all States Parties.

The OPCW implements the CWC globally and is mandated to verify the elimination of all declared chemical weapons, prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons, assist and protect Member States in the event of a threatened or actual attack with chemical weapons, as well as to promote the peaceful uses of chemistry.

65/2004

Categories: Conference of the States Parties