Status of international cooperation as at 21 April 2009

The first basic analytical chemistry course in Africa successfully concluded on 3 April at Protechnik Laboratories, in Pretoria, South Africa. Twelve African chemistry professionals from 11 African countries benefited from the course,

Following are the paragraphs related to international cooperation contained in the opening statement by the OPCW Director-General to the Executive Council at its 56th session.

In particular, the first basic analytical chemistry course in Africa successfully concluded on 3 April at Protechnik Laboratories, in Pretoria, South Africa. Twelve African chemistry professionals from 11 African countries benefited from the course, which was jointly organised by the OPCW, the South African National Authority, Protechnik Laboratories in South Africa, and the Finnish Institute for the Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN).

This course is of particular significance to the OPCW, as it is the first activity covered by the Africa Programme to be undertaken for assistance to nationals from African States at an African institution. I wish to sincerely thank the Government of South Africa, and also Protechnik Laboratories for hosting the course and the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction for their support to this event. I have to say they not only supported the event, they continue to render strong help to the Technical Secretariat. I would also like to thank VERIFIN and the Government of Finland for their cooperation in this important endeavour.

Furthermore, I would also like to underline that the International Cooperation and Assistance Division (ICA) will continue to organise activities under the Africa Programme in order to offer tailor-made and focused support to States Parties in Africa, with a view to enabling them to enhance their national capacities, as well as to effectively implement the provisions of the Convention.

Preparations for the Associate Programme 2009 are now fully under way. I wish to thank a number of chemical companies that have made offers of placement and training, with the support of our Member States. At the same time, I would like to encourage other Member States from developed countries to offer more training opportunities in their industry sectors for the participants of this flagship programme.

Preparations are similarly ongoing for the analytical skills development course, which this year will be held again in Helsinki, Finland, organised by VERIFIN, from 29 May to 12 June.

Under the Conference Support Programme, eight conferences—in Austria, Brazil, China, Croatia, India, Slovenia, South Africa, and Swaziland—were approved for support during the intersessional period. At the same time, the Technical Secretariat sponsored five candidates from Africa under the Laboratory Assistance Programme to attend a course on “The Running and Interpretation of GC-MS Spectra” at the Department of Chemistry, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya, from 2 to 6 March 2009. The course was organised by the Pan Africa Chemistry Network, Kenya, with the support of the Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Four interns from Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Madagascar, and Nigeria have been supported under the Internship Support Programme, while the Fifteenth Review Committee for Research Projects considered 25 of the 45 research projects submitted through the International Foundation for Science (IFS), Sweden. In this context, I would like to express my gratitude to the IFS and its supporting institutions for their continued and valuable cooperation with this Organisation. Indeed, as you can see, a number of institutes have continued to render very important support to the OPCW, and I think we all—Member States and ourselves—are deeply grateful to them.

Finally, I wish to mention that a workshop on the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and their contribution to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, jointly organised by the Government of Croatia and the OPCW, was held in Cavtat, Croatia, on 4 and 5 April.

Categories: Executive Council, International Cooperation

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 Opening Statement by the Director General to the Executive Council at its Fifty-Sixth Session (82 kB)