OPCW celebrates 10th Anniversary of the Associate Programme

209 participants from 87 Member States have participated in the first decade of this international cooperation programme

The participants of the Associate Programme 2009 pose with OPCW Director-General on the day of the closing ceremony of this year's programme.

International cooperation to enable State Parties with developing economies to access know-how for the peaceful uses of chemistry is an important component of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The OPCW marked an important milestone in these efforts on 22 September 2009 when it commemorated the 10th Anniversary of the Associate Programme with a closing ceremony for this year’s 28 participants from 27 Member States.*

Addressing the ceremony, OPCW Director-General Rogelio Pfirter described the Associate Programme as “one of the OPCW’s leading and most popular international cooperation activities, one that has contributed to building skills and capabilities in areas related to the peaceful uses of chemistry while also creating wider awareness of the need to implement the industry-related provisions of the Convention.”

The programme is designed to promote the peaceful uses of chemistry by enhancing and improving the skills of chemists and chemical engineers from Members States with developing economies. The demanding 10-week curriculum focuses on both theory and practice, rotating Associates through skills development workshops, visits to specialized institutions, and placements in modern chemical plants where they receive on-the-job training in a variety of CWC-related industrial operations.

The main goal is to equip Associates with the necessary skills and vision to become leaders in their national chemical industries and in CWC implementation -- thus increasing the pool of experienced personnel that National Authorities and the OPCW can draw upon. In the first decade of the Associate Programme:

• 209 participants from 87 Member States have participated;
• 79 chemical industries in 15 Members States in Europe and Asia have provided support;
• 14 Associates have been recruited by the Technical Secretariat as OPCW inspectors;
• Associates have published 90 research papers on CWC-related topics;
• a large cohort of Associates are now actively involved in CWC implementation in their home countries.

* Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Senegal, Sudan, Suriname, Uganda, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

Categories: Associate Programme