OPCW Director-General Addresses Seminar on Middle East Security and WMD Non-Proliferation/Disarmament

The OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, visited Paris, France on 19 June 2008 to address a seminar organised by the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) entitled “Middle East Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Non-Proliferation/Disarmament”.

Addressing the issue of "Confidence Building Measures (CBMs): Benefiting from Previous Experiences”, Director-General Pfirter highlighted the significance of the Chemical Weapons Convention as a major confidence building measure in the Middle East which can inspire additional steps towards the pursuit of related objectives of peace and security in the region.

Director-General Pfirter emphasised that chemical weapons no longer have strategic military value and are ineffective against well-protected armed forces. He said their use may only provide a momentary advantage because massive retaliation and opprobrium would inevitably follow. He stressed that prompt accession to the Convention would contribute to the goal of establishing a WMD-free zone in the Middle East and add a strong building block to the edifice of regional peace and mutual security.

As examples of success in confidence building measures, Director-General Pfirter also spoke on the processes leading to the Mendoza Agreement of 1991, according to which the Governments of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile undertook to refrain from the development, production, acquisition, transfer, or use of biological and chemical weapons and the Quadripartite Agreement of 1991, signed by Argentina, Brazil, the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC), and the IAEA stipulating procedures for IAEA and ABACC to monitor and to verify the nuclear installations of Argentine and Brazil.

The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) was established by the Council Joint Action of 20 July 2001 and inaugurated on 1 January 2002. The EUISS is an independent agency that functions under the EU’s second pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and is located in Paris, France.

Categories: Asia, Outreach