Thanks to this 50% increase in the number of inspectors and inspection assistants, the OPCW will now be able to considerably expand its inspection activities. The number of inspections is consequently expected to increase from 10 per week at present to as many as 16 per week in the near future. To date, the Organisation has carried out 250 inspections on the territory of 25 States Parties to the Convention.
On 1 July 1998 this new group of inspectors and inspection assistants was officially welcomed to the OPCW in a special ceremony at the new OPCW headquarters building. They were warmly welcomed, on behalf of the Director-General of the OPCW, by Mr Ichiro Akiyama, Director of the Inspectorate, Mr Ray van Raalte, the Director of Administration, and Mr Johan Rautenbach, the Head of the Human Resources Branch.
The breakdown, by nationality, of the 70 new inspectors and the 10 new inspection assistants is as follows:
Algeria (1), Argentina (2), Australia (2), Austria (1), Bangladesh (1), Belarus (1), Brazil (4), Canada (5), Chile (1), China (2), Croatia (1), Cuba (2), Czech Republic (5), Ethiopia (1), Finland (1), France (1), Germany (1), Hungary (1), India (4), Iran (Islamic Republic of) (1), Ireland (1), Japan (1), Netherlands (2), New Zealand (2), Pakistan (1), Poland (2), Republic of Korea (2), Romania (4), Russian Federation (5), Saudi Arabia (1), Slovak Republic (2), Slovenia (1), South Africa (2), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (3), United States of America (10), Venezuela (1), and Zimbabwe (2).
14/1998