Mr Mike Smith, Executive Director of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), visited the OPCW on 5 February 2009 for meetings with the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, and other senior OPCW officials.
In their meeting, Mr Smith informed the Director-General about the activities of his office. The Director-General affirmed to Mr Smith that the OPCW continues to contribute to the international community’s efforts in the area of counter-terrorism by promoting and supporting full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
CTED was created to support the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee in its assessment, monitoring and promotion of Member States’ implementation of resolution 1373 (2001). In that role it reviews the reports submitted by States, dialogues with them on aspects of implementation, and in some cases carries out field visits to assess how the counter-terrorism measures are working on the ground.
On 5 September 2008, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted in 2006, which “encourages the International Atomic Energy Agency and the OPCW to continue their efforts, within their respective mandates, to help States to build capacity to prevent terrorists from accessing nuclear, chemical, or radiological materials, to ensure security at related facilities, and to respond effectively in the event of an attack using such materials.”