Ambassador Roberto García Moritán, Under Secretary of Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, paid an official visit to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and addressed the Forty-First Session of the Executive Council on 28 June 2005.
Ambassador García Moritán noted that Argentina had been involved in the drafting of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) from the outset. His Government fully supported the aims and objectives of the CWC and was a staunch advocate of effective multilateral disarmament as practiced by the OPCW. To further enhance the CWC’s implementation, Argentina is now finalizing the legislation necessary to ensure that all provisions of the CWC are anchored in national law.
He welcomed the acceleration of the destruction process of chemical weapons by the possessor State Parties and urged these State Parties to observe the destruction timelines strictly.
Ambassador García Moritán underscored the crucial importance of the CWC’s universality in the prevention of the use and spread of chemical weapons. He acknowledged that the 2005 Cyprus CWC Workshop, which was attended by all States not yet party to the Convention in the Middle East, is an illustration of the commitment of the OPCW to raise awareness of the CWC among those countries that are not yet party to the treaty.
He commended the tangible success of the OPCW under the leadership of Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, and expressed the support of the Argentine Government for the re-election of Director-General Pfirter to a second term
27/2005