At its twentieth session held in 2015, the Conference of the States Parties adopted a decision to designate 29 April – the date of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention – as the “International Day for the Foundation of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)” or “OPCW Day”.
In order to mark this important occasion, the Technical Secretariat is organising an event to celebrate the inaugural OPCW Day from 2 to 4 May 2016 at OPCW Headquarters. The theme for the event will be “Chemical Safety and Security in a Technologically Evolving World”. The OPCW Day 2016 is the first event in a series of Conferences and Exhibitions, which the Technical Secretariat will be organising in the coming years, to commemorate the foundation of the Organisation.
“As we celebrate the foundation of the OPCW, we create a vision for its future in a technologically evolving world. Most importantly, the event will help us build new and better partnerships and to harness the power of innovation to meet new and emerging challenges,” said OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü.
This year’s event seeks to gather stakeholders from across relevant communities to discuss three themes – chemical safety and security, technology foresight, and future scenarios – that are relevant to the work and the future of the Organisation.
In addition to theme-specific panel discussions, workshops and briefings, the Conference will feature a dedicated exhibition area and poster sessions. The exhibition will include companies in the field of CBRNE-related equipment or products, developers of emerging and enabling technologies with chemical applications, and the designated laboratories of the OPCW.
The OPCW Day 2016 will also feature poster sessions and an interactive poster competition. The posters, which will be on display at the Conference, should showcase the participants’ work in areas of relevance to the OPCW and the CWC. The three best posters – identified through a vote by conference participants – will be awarded a prize.
Participants are invited to register on the conference website by 31 March 2016. The deadline for submission of abstracts for the poster sessions is scheduled for 31 March and requests for the reservation of exhibition booths can be submitted until 29 February.