The Ninth Annual Meeting of National Authorities was held at the OPCW headquarters in The Hague on 2 and 3 November 2007.
It was attended by 160 participants from 74 States Parties, one State not Party —Guinea-Bissau— and two international organisations, namely the Implementation Support Unit of the Biological (and Toxins) Weapons Convention and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive-Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization. States Parties from all regional groups —18 from Africa, 15 from Asia, 14 from Eastern Europe, 11 from Latin American and the Caribbean and 16 from Western Europe and other States— attended the meeting.
In his opening remarks, the OPCW Director-General Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter stated that the presence of such a large number of National Authorities every year provides a unique opportunity for participants to network not just in the context of their regional group interaction but across geographical regions. He further noted how the increased attendance over the years demonstrates the importance of this event hosted by the OPCW.
Director-General Pfirter also emphasised that the effective implementation of the Convention was the cumulative result of cooperation at the sub-regional, regional and international level. He stressed that with the trade in chemicals linking States Parties from different regions of the world, the interaction amongst them in the interest of implementing the Convention has become a necessity. Moreover, Director-General Pfirter highlighted that to overcome the challenges that the international community faces for maintaining global peace and security, regular cooperation amongst National Authorities is crucial.
The Meeting provides a forum for personnel from National Authorities involved with issues relating to the national implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. This year, the thematic focus of the meeting was on the role of parliaments.
Parliamentarians from the participating States Parties held a roundtable discussion on the role of parliaments in the implementation of the Convention. During the discussions, ways and means to increase awareness of the Convention amongst their fellow parliamentarians and enhancing their involvement in national implementation were highlighted. Fifteen parliamentarians participated in the discussion.
The presence in The Hague of the representatives of National Authorities, in conjunction with the Twelfth Session of the Conference of the States Parties, provided a unique opportunity for these representatives to meet with OPCW Technical Secretariat officials to discuss issues of specific interest to individual States Parties. In total 74 bilateral meetings took place between 37 States Parties and the Technical Secretariat.
PR113/2007