OPCW's Sixth Associate Progamme Concludes

The Sixth Associate Programme concluded on 30 September 2005 at the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, the Netherlands. The ten-week programme was attended by twenty-four participants, representing twenty-four Member States: Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, Uruguay and Uzbekistan.

The Associate Programme assists in building national capacity by providing qualified chemists and chemical engineers from Member States whose economies are either developing or in transition, training in effective operations in a modern chemical industry environment. The Programme also supports the implementation of the industry-related provisions of the Convention and promotes trade.

In his address to the 2005 Associate Programme graduates, Director-General Pfirter recalled that one of the core objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention is to promote international cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry. The Associate Programme exemplifies the benefits to be derived from membership in the OPCW, as well as acting to enhance such cooperation and peaceful development. Director-General Pfirter mentioned that previous graduates are active in supporting their National Authorities’ implementation of the CWC.

The Director-General acknowledged the voluntary financial contributions received from the Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Japan. He mentioned that the skills development course conducted by the University of Surrey, United Kingdom, was of enormous benefit to the programme. The Director-General also thanked Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland and their national chemical associations for the assistance rendered by them in arranging the industrial training in their countries under the programme.

The Director-General also acknowledged the cooperation extended by individual companies, namely Solvay of Belgium; Rodhia of France; BASF AG, Bayer AG and Ciba Speciality Chemicals of Germany; Polimeri Europa.of Italy; Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals Inc. of Japan; DSM Agro of the Netherlands; Yara International ASA of Norway; DuPont Ibérica S.L. of Spain; Akzo Nobel Functional Chemicals AB and Borealis AB of Sweden; and Ciba Speciality Chemicals of Switzerland, who had invested considerable time and effort in providing the industrial training for the participants. He also thanked Dow Benelux, Prins Maurits Laboratory, DCMR, AVR Chemie, Deltalinqs, Customs Authority and the Technical University Library at Delft in the Netherlands, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) and the World Customs Organisation for their support to the programme.

53/2005

Categories: Associate Programme