Workshop for Customs and Border Authorities in Eastern Europe

24 participants from 16 States Parties attended

Eastern European Group of States Parties to the CWC

The OPCW and State Border Guards Committee of the Republic of Belarus hosted a Regional Sensitisation Workshop for Customs and Border Authorities in Eastern Europe on the Technical Aspects of the Transfers Regime.

The workshop, the first of its kind in the region, was held in the Grodno region of Belarus from 6 to 8 May 2009 and attracted 24 participants from 16 States Parties: Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.

The event was opened by two senior officials of the State Border Guards Committee, namely Mr Andrei Georgevich Garulko, First Deputy Chairman, and Colonel Edward Vladimirovich Pizh, Head of the Directorate.

The workshop programme covered a variety of subjects, including the role of National Authorities and their interaction with customs authorities, the transfer provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), identification of chemicals covered by the CWC, and reporting of imports and exports.

The programme also included two field visits. The first was to a border post between Belarus and Poland to observe the procedures used by the customs and border authorities for monitoring the import and export of chemicals. The participants examined the mobile laboratory and the equipment used for detecting chemicals that might be imported illegally into the country. The second visit was to the Grodno-Azot Petrochemical Enterprise, one of the largest of its kind in Europe and subject to Part IX of the Verification Annex to the CWC regarding Other Chemical Production Facilities.

OPCW News 25/2009, posted 3 June 2009

Categories: Eastern Europe, National implementation, Non-proliferation of chemical weapons