The Director- General of the OPCW, Mr. José Bustani, today welcomed the ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention by Dominica on 12 February 2001.
Dominica is the second member, after St. Lucia, from the Organisation for Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to join the Convention. It is hoped that Dominica’s ratification will encourage other members of the OECS and the broader Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which have yet to ratify or accede to the Convention to follow suit.
Dominica will become the 143rd State Party to the Convention on 14 March 2001, thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of ratification with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The number of signatory States-those which have signed the Convention, but which have yet to ratify it-stands at 31.