Status of implementation support as at February 2009

Following are the paragraphs related to implementation support contained in the opening statement by the OPCW Director-General to the Executive Council at its 55th session.

In the field of implementation support, during the reporting period the Technical Secretariat carried out eight implementation-support activities. These activities include a regional basic training course for National Authorities of Asian Countries and a subregional customs course for States Parties in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) area, both of which were held in Doha, Qatar.

A subregional legal workshop for Central and West Africa was also held in the Gambia, and two bilateral technical-assistance visits were undertaken––one in Sierra Leone and the other in Laos.

Two regional meetings of National Authorities for Asia and Africa took place in Bangladesh and Uganda in October and November 2008, respectively, the latter under the aegis of the Africa Programme.

During the reporting period, the Technical Secretariat hosted the Tenth Annual Meeting of National Authorities, which was held here at OPCW headquarters from 28 to 30 November 2008. The focus of that meeting was the role of industry in the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, including recent developments relating to Article VI industry declarations and verification. The meeting was attended by more than 190 participants from 92 States Parties and accommodated over 100 consultations between the Secretariat and 91 individual National Authorities, thereby laying the basis for closer cooperation and consultation in the future.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank Qatar, Japan, and the Netherlands for the generous financial contributions that they provided, and which made some of these activities possible.

Implementation of Article VII

Concerning the implementation of Article VII, the Secretariat has, upon request, continued to provide assistance to States Parties in this area.

With the notification of the establishment of the Iraqi National Authority, and I congratulate Iraq for having done that on the very first day of entry into force of the Convention for it, the number of States Parties with a National Authority has increased to 178. One additional State Party, Azerbaijan, has informed the Secretariat that it has legislation in place covering all key areas. This brings the number of States Parties that have fulfilled this requirement to 83. A further 43 States Parties have informed the OPCW that they have laws in place that cover some key areas.