At the invitation of the Russian Federation, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, attended an official event, hosted by the Russian Federal Agency on Industry in Kambarka, in the Udmurt Republic of the Russian Federation.
At the official event, the Deputy Director of the Federal Agency on Industry, H.E. General Viktor Ivanovich Kholstov, announced that the Russian Federation had completed the second phase of its destruction program by destroying over 20% of the Russian Federation’s declared stockpile in advance of the agreed deadline, 29 April 2007.
In his address to the assembled dignitaries, Director-General Pfirter commended the Russian Federation for its forthright effort to complete the destruction of its declared stockpile. He underscored the welcome and necessary acceleration of the Russian Federation’s destruction program and expressed his gratitude to the Member States that had provided generous support for chemical demilitarisation programs in the Russian Federation, either through bilateral or multilateral contributions. Director-General Pfirter underscored the importance of timely destruction to ensure that the objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention are met on time and in full, serving to both enhance international peace and security, as well as to deter any breach of the global chemical weapons ban.
PR32 / 2007