On behalf of the Government of Argentina and the OPCW, the Director-General wishes to invite Member States in the Latin American and Caribbean region to nominate participants for the First Advanced Regional Assistance-and-Protection Course on Chemical-Emergency Response for States Parties in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 16 to 20 April 2012.

The course is related to assistance and protection against chemical weapons under Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter “the Convention”), and will be jointly organised by the Government of Argentina and the Technical Secretariat (hereinafter “the Secretariat”).

The course objectives are to:

1. facilitate the exchange of information and experience regarding the implementation of Article X of the Convention;
2. provide a forum to discuss future cooperation among participating Member States and what further offers Member States might make to the OPCW under Article X;
3. provide advanced training on the proper use of individual and collective protective equipment, and the monitoring, detection, sampling and decontamination techniques used in different scenarios during field exercises with chemical warfare-agents; and
4. provide training on appropriate responses and countermeasures in complex emergency operations, and rescue techniques during incidents involving chemical-warfare agents.