OPCW Director-General Meets Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran

On 1 December 2008 the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, received the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran for Legal and International Affairs, H.E. Mr Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini.

H.E. Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Islamic Republic of Iran

The Deputy Foreign Minister reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and highlighted his country’s involvement in the consensus process. He also raised a number of issues related to events prior to the entry-into-force of the CWC. These included Iran’s proposal for the establishment of a fund for the victims of chemical weapons, its request for an investigation into the acquisition of chemical weapons by the regime of Saddam Hussein, as well as a proposal that a part of the premises of the OPCW headquarters be named after the Iranian city of Sardasht.

In the meeting, the Deputy Foreign Minister also requested the continued support of the OPCW for the holding of medical courses in Iran related to the effects of chemical weapons on human beings.

On his part, Director-General Pfirter acknowledged Iran’s participation in the consensus-based practices of the OPCW. As regards specifically the medical courses organised in Iran, the Director-General mentioned that he had been advised by the International Cooperation and Assistance Division and the Health and Safety Branch of the OPCW that the courses have contributed to the understanding of the medical and scientific communities as to the effects of chemical weapons, and that therefore the Technical Secretariat would continue to lend its support to them.