Doha Hosts Meeting of Representatives of Chemical Industry and National Authorities of States Parties to CWC

Doha, October 02 (QNA) - The fifth annual Meeting of Representatives of Chemical Industry and National Authorities of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) opened in Doha Tuesday, The three-day meeting is held under the patronage of HE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, and the with the participation of 25 countries of state parties to the CWC, along with specialists from relevant state institutions and representatives from the chemical industry sector. Addressing the opening of the meeting, Chairman of Qatar National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons (NCPW) Brig. Gen. (Air) Hassan Saleh Al Nesf extended thanks to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its confidence in Qatar to host and organize this meeting for the fifth year in a row, through Doha Regional Centre for CBRN1 Training. He noted that Doha Regional Centre for CBRN1 Training was the fruit of cooperation between the OPCW and the State of Qatar to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention, referring to its role in maintaining international peace and security by strengthening the capabilities of States Parties to address the threats posed by chemical terrorism, promoting peaceful uses of chemistry, as well as hosting many international events to promote the objectives of disarmament and non-proliferation. Since its accession to the CWC, Qatar has spared no effort to implement all the articles of the Convention, support its activities, and seek to affirm the universality of the Convention by encouraging non-accession States to join the Convention in Doha, he added. He noted that Qatar National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons is keen on interaction and cooperation with the activities of the OPCW, and on the development of international cooperation and knowledge exchange in the chemical field for purposes not prohibited by the Convention in order to promote economic and technological development with all States Parties as one of the basic conditions for achieving the objectives of the Convention. That prompted the State of Qatar to organize 30 programs in cooperation with the Technical Secretariat of the Organization through the Doha Regional Center to cover the main areas of Articles VI, VII, X and XI of the Convention. He stressed the importance of the meeting as it brings together representatives of two important pillars that are the basis of the optimal implementation of the Convention. The first is the representatives of national authorities and the second is the representatives of the chemical industry sector, which strengthens their cooperation to ensure the optimum implementation of Article VI of the Convention. He underlined that the State of Qatar has fulfilled its obligations under Article VII of the Convention to take national implementation measures by enacting legislation on chemical weapons starting with the promulgation of Law No. (17) of 2007, which was amended by Law No. (16) of 2013 for its provisions to comply more with Convention. For her part, Chizu Matsushita, Senior coordination and planning officer of implementation support branch with Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), extended thanks to the government of Qatar and Doha Regional Centre for CBRN1 Training for their support for many activities that contributed to the building and development of capacities, in addition to the organization of seminars, meetings and conferences in cooperation between the National Committee and the Technical Secretariat of the Organization. She expressed the appreciation of the Secretariat of the Organization to the State of Qatar for fulfilling its commitments and its high implementation of the Convention. The sessions of the first day of the meeting discussed the role of national authorities and chemical industries in the implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, in addition to the efforts to continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Article VI verification system, including the role of national chemical industry associations and national bodies. The participants will also review during the next two days the cooperation between national authorities and chemical industry representatives in raising awareness of the Convention at the national level and the experiences of States parties in this area. (QNA)