The ChemTech Centre is an important upgrade to the OPCW’s research, operational, analytical and capacity building capabilities. It houses the OPCW Laboratory, the Technology and Training Hub, an indoor training area, and a fit for purpose instruction space. The Centre creates synergies for knowledge sharing, scientific and technical collaboration, and capacity building activities.
Investing in Science and Technology
The OPCW’s mission goes beyond the destruction of all declared chemical weapons stockpiles. With thousands of new chemicals discovered every day and accelerated technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence, the threat of chemical weapons re-emergence becomes increasingly acute. In addition, the ever-changing international security environment is re-shaping the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime. The ChemTech Centre ensures that the Organisation remains fit for purpose to address these issues and ensure that chemistry is used only to advance peace, progress and prosperity in both developed and developing countries.
The Project
The OPCW Laboratory and Equipment Store was inaugurated in 1996 in the town of Rijswijk, which is just outside The Hague. Initially, the work of the Laboratory and Equipment Store focused primarily on supporting the OPCW’s demilitarisation activities and missions, routine inspections of industrial facilities for verification purposes, and international cooperation and assistance activities.
In recent years, however, the work of the Laboratory and Equipment Store has changed and grown significantly to reflect States Parties’ changing and growing requirements. Currently, these include responding to the emergence of new chemical weapons threats, which require the development of new and improved verification tools and expanded capabilities to conduct non-routine missions, and providing greater support for international cooperation and assistance activities.
The growing and evolving activities of the Laboratory and Equipment Store, however, have led to increasingly severe space constraints in the Rijswijk facility, which is a rented facility that has no possibility for expansion. Moreover, the facility’s infrastructure is aging as no major infrastructure upgrades have been undertaken since the OPCW’s arrival.
To meet the future needs of the Laboratory and Equipment Store, in 2017 the Technical Secretariat began to study options for upgrading their capabilities. Between September and November 2017, the Technical Secretariat prepared a report describing the need, initial estimated cost, and initial estimated timeline for a project to construct a new facility for the Laboratory and Equipment Store. The Needs Statement was presented to State Parties at the Twenty-Second Session of the Conference of the States Parties in November 2017, and the project to construct the new ChemTech Centre began.
Budget & Timeline
The project has a budget of €33.5M that is exclusively funded by voluntary contributions to the ChemTech Centre Trust Fund.
Contributions
OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias expresses gratitude to all contributors to the project.
Contributor |
Amount |
Algeria |
€ 15,000 |
Andorra |
€ 16,000 |
Angola |
€ 25,000 |
Australia |
AUD 350,000 |
Bangladesh |
€ 13,339 |
Belgium |
€ 2,000,000 |
Brazil |
€ 49,426 |
Cameroon |
€ 30,490 |
Canada |
CAD 10,000,000 |
Chile |
€ 13,000 |
China |
USD $ 30,000 |
Croatia |
€ 10,000 |
Cyprus |
€ 45,000 |
Czech Republic |
€ 19,491 |
Estonia |
€ 10,000 |
Finland |
€ 100,000 |
France |
€ 1,400,000 |
Germany |
€ 1,500,000 |
Greece |
€ 30,000 |
Hungary |
€ 35,000 |
India |
€ 20,000 |
Indonesia |
Rp 165,000,000 |
Ireland |
€ 30,000 |
Italy |
€ 200,000 |
Japan |
€ 2,400,000 |
Kazakhstan |
€ 20,000 |
Lithuania |
€ 10,000 |
Luxembourg |
€ 17,000 |
Malaysia |
€ 10,000 |
Malta |
€ 10,000 |
Mexico |
€ 5,000 |
Morocco |
€ 15,000 |
Netherlands |
€ 2,300,000 |
New Zealand |
€ 200,000 |
Norway |
€ 24,349 |
Pakistan |
€ 10,000 |
Panama |
€ 5,000 |
Peru |
USD $ 10,000 |
Philippines |
USD $ 15,000 |
Poland |
€ 100,000 |
Portugal |
€ 40,000 |
Qatar |
€ 100,000 |
Republic of Korea |
€ 455,231 |
Romania |
€ 9,847 |
San Marino |
€ 1,000 |
Saudi Arabia |
€ 50,000 |
Slovakia |
€ 30,000 |
Slovenia |
€ 10,000 |
Spain |
€ 260,000 |
Sweden |
€ 38,319 |
Switzerland |
€ 283,262 |
Thailand |
THB 450,000 |
Türkiye |
€ 30,000 |
United Arab Emirates |
€ 100,000 |
United Kingdom |
€ 1,044,707 |
United States* |
USD $ 6,995,767 |
European Union |
€ 8,131,000 |
Israel, signatory |
€ 12,500 |
The American Chemical Society |
USD $ 10,000 |
The European Chemical Society EuChemS |
€ 1,000 |
German Chemical Society GDCh |
€ 1,000 |
International Centre for Chemical Safety and Security |
€ 5,000 |
Personal contributions |
€ 35,000 |
Royal Netherlands Chemical Society |
€ 2,500 |
Royal Society of Chemistry |
GBP £ 5,000 |
Total |
€ 34,637,015 |
*The project is partially sponsored by the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program of the United States Department of Defense. The content of the information in this article does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Federal Government of the United States, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Latest News
More News- OPCW Director-General receives Russia’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Discussion focuses on the importance of upholding the norm against chemical weapons
- OPCW Director-General meets Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Discussion highlights the role of multilateralism in addressing contemporary challenges in chemical disarmament and non-proliferation
- OPCW Director-General meets with Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security of the United States High-level discussion focuses on the way forward in implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention
Documents
Presentations
Title | Date |
---|---|
Brochure: OPCW ChemTech Centre Project Update, June 2022 | 30 June 2022 |
Brochure: OPCW ChemTech Centre Project Update, October 2020 | 6 October 2020 |