OPCW Director-General Addresses UN General Assembly

OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü addresses the UN General Assembly on 19 November, 2012.

Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, the OPCW Director-General, visited New York on 19 November 2012 where he addressed the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. He submitted the annual report of the OPCW’s activities and implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2010, and a draft report for 2011, for consideration by the body.

In his prepared address [PDF - 24 KB], Director-General Üzümcü expressed his appreciation to the UN Secretary General, H.E. Mr Ban Ki-moon, for his support for the High Level Meeting held at the UN Secretariat on 1 October to commemorate the OPCW’s 15th anniversary, and to the General Assembly for its support to the implementation of the Convention.

The Director-General summarized the achievements of the OPCW to date, reporting that 78% of the nearly 70,000 metric tonnes of Category 1 chemical weapons declared by possessor States have been destroyed under verification by the OPCW Technical Secretariat. He noted the “constructive and forward-looking solution” agreed by the Conference of the States Parties on the issue of the final deadline, which imposed increased transparency measures and enhanced reporting on the concerned possessor States.

Director-General Üzümcü also reported on progress made in destroying chemical weapons abandoned by Japan on the territory of China, and on implementation of the industrial inspection regime, assistance-and-protection activities and international cooperation programmes.

The Director-General outlined the challenges posed by developments in science and technology, the global chemical industry and other spheres to the OPCW’s efforts to prevent the re-emergence of chemical weapons in future. He highlighted the continuing quest for achieving universality of the Convention, noting the letters to that end which he recently addressed with the UN Secretary to the heads of State or government of the eight remaining States not Party to the Convention.

Director-General Üzümcü concluded by noting that the Third Review Conference of the CWC to be held in April 2013 will provide an important opportunity for the OPCW to continue refining its priorities, goals and objectives, and to chart a course for the mid to long term future.

Categories: Director-General, OPCW and the UN