On 29 November 2005, H.E. Dr Lam Akol Ajawin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sudan, visited the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.
The OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, welcomed Foreign Minister Ajawin and briefed him on the present status of the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by the 175 OPCW Member States.
Foreign Minister Ajawin, the first Sudanese Foreign Minister to visit the OPCW headquarters, reaffirmed Sudan’s unwavering commitment to a total ban on chemical weapons and its strong support of the OPCW’s mandate to both eliminate these weapons, as well as to ensure that they never re-appear.
He also informed the Director-General about the current political situation in Sudan and emphasized the determination of his Government to implement the peace plan in his country.
On behalf of the Organisation, Director-General Pfirter expressed his appreciation and gratitude to Sudan for its active support for the work of the OPCW and its advocacy for the universality of the CWC in Africa. He recalled that Sudan fosters the CWC’s universality in Africa by encouraging States not yet party to the Convention to join without delay. He noted that forty-four of the fifty-two African nations have joined the OPCW. Director-General Pfirter thanked Foreign Minister Ajawin for the Sudanese Government’s generous support of several important regional meetings held in Khartoum which were convened to further progress towards the CWC’s universal and effective implementation in Africa.
Foreign Minister Ajawin and Director-General Pfirter also discussed the challenges being addressed by the OPCW, such as providing implementation support to all Member States that request such assistance in their efforts to meet all of their obligations under the CWC, the timely destruction of chemical weapons and the potential threat posed by chemical terrorism.
81/2005