OPCW Director-General Addresses International Colloquium in Brussels

On 15 May 2007, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, addressed the international colloquium, “Chemical Weapons: Does Prohibition Work?”, organized by EGMONT- the Royal Institute for International Relations and the Belgian Government and held on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The event brought together OPCW delegates, government officials, academics, the chemical industry representatives and civil society to share views and discuss both the progress and future challenges in the CWC’s implementation. The colloquium was chaired by the President of EGMONT, H.E. Viscount Etienne Davignon, and was held in Palais Egmont in Brussels, Belgium.

During the colloquium, presentations were provided by the Personal Representative for the Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction of the High Representative for the Comprehensive Foreign Security Policy, H.E. Ms Annalisa Giannella, on the role of the CWC in strengthening international security, as well as by Dr Jean Pascal Zanders, Director of the Biological Weapons Prevention Project, on the benefits of the CWC’s full and effective national implementation.

In his keynote address, Director-General Pfirter expressed the OPCW’s appreciation for Belgium’s long-standing commitment to achieving the CWC’s objective of establishing a world free of chemical weapons.

In extending the OPCW’s thanks to the European Union (EU), Director-General Pfirter underscored the EU’s vital support for key OPCW programmes through the EU’s joint action. He noted that the joint action is funding OPCW programmes designed to help the 182 OPCW Member States establish the national infrastructure to effectively apply the chemical weapons ban at the national level, in addition to supporting the OPCW’s efforts to ensure that thirteen States that remain outside this multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation pact will join the CWC as soon as possible.

While drawing attention to the successful first decade of the CWC’s implementation, Director-General Pfirter recalled that this achievement was largely due to CWC States Parties’ and global chemical industry’s unanimous resolve to eliminate chemical weapons and to prevent their spread and use in future. Before that ambitious goal can be reached, he reminded the participants that challenges must be addressed energetically to bring about the Convention’s universality and to undertake the improvements in the national infrastructure needed to enforce the ban, if this deterrence mechanism is to reach its fullest potential as foreseen by the Convention.

In conclusion, Director-General Pfirter urged the international community to rededicate itself to the CWC’s ideals to be certain that this treaty can bring about a better and safer world.

PR51 / 2007

Categories: 10th Anniversary