On 19 April 2007, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic held an international conference in the Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome. The Conference assessed the successes and analyzed the challenges encountered in the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention over the past decade.
In his opening address to the international conference, the Under Secretary of State of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Ambassador Vitorrio Michele Craxi, underlined the importance of the Chemical Weapons Convention in the current strategic context. Under Secretary Craxi reaffirmed both Italy’s strong resolve to implement the Convention in full and effectively and its unwavering support for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in its mission to bring about a world free of chemical weapons.
Drawing attention to the present threats to international security, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, H.E. Mr Umberto Ranieri, underscored in his address to the international conference the crucial contribution of multilateral instruments such as the Convention in addressing and resolving problems that confront all nations.
Noting that multilateral instruments have been adopted to seek the non-proliferation and elimination of other categories of weapons of mass destruction, the President of the Institute for International Affairs, Rome, H.E. Mr Stefano Silvestri, stressed in his address that these instruments had not as yet achieved the Chemical Weapons Convention’s success in efficient operation and progress towards total stockpile destruction.
In his statement to the international conference, the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, commended Italy for its unflagging advocacy for universal adherence to the chemical weapons ban. He praised Italy’s active and invaluable support for the Convention’s universality in the Mediterranean Basin, as well as its generosity in providing training for the OPCW Inspectorate and for fellow Member States, ensuring the continuing stringency of the Convention’s verification regime and its effective national application. Director-General Pfirter also gratefully acknowledged Italy’s significant role in the G8’s Global Partnership to support the destruction of the declared chemical weapons stockpile in Russia. In this regard, he also lauded the constructive engagement of Green Cross Italy and Green Cross International, which acts as a vital link between governments, organizations and communities to facilitate the timely and safe elimination of these weapons of mass destruction.
PR29 / 2007