News

Mr. Secretary General,

Mr. Director General,

Excellencies,

I consider it a great honour to participate in this High-Level Meeting on the Chemical Weapons Convention’s Tenth Anniversary. It is always impressive to take part in a forum that witnesses substantial progress in the field of disarmament and effective arms control with regard to weapons on mass destruction.

A permanent memorial to all victims of chemical weapons in The Hague reinforces our hope for the future that the horrors of Ypres or Halabja will never be repeated.

There is no doubt that the implementation of the Convention and the contribution of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to world peace and security are a success story. We welcome with appreciation the ongoing activities of the Organisation, specifically its work in further enhancing the verification regime of the Convention. This verification system sets new international standards that may be relevant also for other disarmament and non-proliferation instruments.

We welcome progress achieved both on universality and the national implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and encourage the OPCW Director General and Member States to continue their efforts in this regard. 

We believe that the menace posed by the chemical munitions dumped in the Baltic Sea should be considered as a challenge for the international community. The elimination of the threats posed by chemical munitions cannot be addressed without taking account of their damaging effects on the environment.

It is our earnest hope that this anniversary of the Convention will ring the bells to redouble our efforts to strengthening multilateralism in disarmament and to ultimately confining this class of weapons of mass destruction and its effects to the history.