OPCW Director-General and OAS Secretary General Insulza Meet; Closer Cooperation between OPCW and OAS Discussed

On 11 December 2006, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, visited the Organization of American States (OAS) and met the OAS Secretary General, H.E. Mr José Miguel Insulza.

During their meeting, Director-General Pfirter provided Secretary General Insulza a detailed overview of the OPCW’s verification of total chemical disarmament by its Member States, as well as the OPCW’s support programmes to ensure the timely and complete implementation of the Convention at the national level. He also briefed the Secretary General on the Organisation’s international cooperation programmes that enhance the national capacity to provide civil protection against chemical weapons and to respond to an threatened or actual attack with chemical weapons. In addition, Ambassador Pfirter detailed how the OPCW fosters peaceful chemistry both in the region and globally. In all of these efforts, the Director-General emphasized the importance of the Convention’s universality to ensure a complete ban on these weapons and to be able to support all nations in their common endeavour to eliminate chemical weapons worldwide.

Secretary General Insulza offered Director-General Pfirter his support and his contribution towards making the Americas a zone free of chemical weapons in line with the OAS’ resolutions to that end (OAS General Assembly Resolution 2107 (XXXV-O/05), adopted 7 June 2005, establishing the Americas as a biological- and chemical-weapons free zone)

In their meeting, Director-General Pfirter and Secretary General Insulza agreed to explore the possibility for greater cooperation between the OPCW and the OAS in future.

PR97 / 2006

Categories: OPCW and the UN