OPCW Director-General Visits Singapore; Meets Defence Minister and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs

1 December 2006

At the invitation of the Republic of Singapore, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, paid an official visit to Singapore on 27 November 2006. In their meeting during the visit, the Acting Foreign Minister of Singapore, H.E. Mr Raymond Lim, and Director-General Pfirter discussed the Convention’s universality in Asia. Acting Foreign Minister Lim reiterated Singapore’s abiding commitment to the Convention’s full and effective implementation in Singapore. On behalf of the Organisation, Director-General Pfirter expressed his gratitude for Singapore’s long-standing support for the CWC and the OPCW. He looked forward to Singapore continuing to encourage the States in the region that had not as yet joined the Convention to do so without delay.

During his official visit to Singapore, Director-General Pfirter opened the Fifth Singapore International Symposium on Protection against Toxic Substances (SISPAT) together with the Defence Minister, H.E. Mr Teo Chee Hean. Addressing SISPAT, Director-General Pfirter called for a new code of ethics to be integrated in chemistry syllabus of educational institutions universally and noted that “The scientific community has the know-how. It could play a major role in ensuring their work is not a disservice and is not available to those who are pursuing means that are contrary to peace and security in the world.”

In their subsequent meeting, Defence Minister Teo assured Director-General Pfirter that Singapore would continue to support the OPCW in its mission to enhance protective capacity and to prevent the use of chemical weapons. Director-General Pfirter thanked Minister Teo for Singapore’s substantive and valuable support of the exacting testing conducted in the OPCW’s designation of national laboratories.

Dr Lee Fook Kay, Director of the National Authority of Singapore, and Mr Quek Gim Pew, Chief Executive Officer, DSO National Laboratories, also met the OPCW Director-General Pfirter. In his discussions with Dr Lee and Mr Quek, Director-General Pfirter commended Singapore for its steadfast support for both the full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the OPCW’s mission and also spoke about the challenges ahead that were being addressed by the OPCW, such as the verified destruction of the global chemical weapons stockpile and the potential threat posed by chemical weapons proliferation.

PR90 / 2006