The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, paid an official visit to the Republic of Finland from 14 to 16 February 2005. During his visit, Director-General Pfirter met H.E. Mr Erkki Tuomioja, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ms Pilvi-Sisko Vierros-Villeneuve, Director General for Political Affairs. Foreign Minister Tuomioja reaffirmed, on behalf of the Government, Finland’s unwavering support for the goals of the Chemical Weapons Convention, its firm resolve to achieve the Convention’s universal and effective application and its strong support for the Organisation. Director-General Pfirter thanked the Government of Finland for its exemplary cooperation and tangible support for the Convention’s implementation, noting that “Finland has traditionally played an important role in all efforts related to disarmament and security, particularly in the field of weapons of mass destruction.”
The Director-General visited the headquarters of the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN). Director-General Pfirter met Ms Paula Vanninen, Director, who expressed VERIFIN’s on-going and firm interest in supporting the OPCW in the area of verification. Director-General Pfirter thanked Ms Vanninen for VERIFIN’s long-standing contribution in support of the OPCW’s mission.
In their discussions at the Ministry of Defence, Mr Pauli Järvenpää, Head of Defence Policy Department, Ministry of Defence, and Director-General Pfirter considered cooperation in the area of assistance and protection and engaged in a fruitful exchange of views on programme delivery.
The Director-General visited the Finnish Parliament and held a working session with the Foreign Affairs Committee and its Chair, Ms Liisa Jaakonsaari, which included a briefing by the Director-General, detailing the status of the Convention’s implementation and the global chemical weapons ban. Members of the Finnish Parliament assured Director-General Pfirter of their intention to support their fellow parliamentarians and National Authority officials in those Member States now striving to reach full implementation.
Director-General Pfirter addressed the Finnish Institute for International Affairs and underlined the fact that the proliferation of chemical weapons presents a threat that is increasing, rather than receding. Moreover, the number of reports involving events in which chemical weapons were involved, or were suspected, is simply too significant to ignore, he stressed. The Member States of the OPCW, as the custodians of one of the major treaties banning weapons of mass destruction, are focusing their efforts on fulfilling the Chemical Weapons Convention’s primary mandates: destroying under international verification the chemical weapons that already exist, preventing the proliferation of new chemical weapons and providing cooperation and assistance to nations that have renounced chemical weapons.
02/2005