A delegation from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence of Israel were met today at the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) by the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter. The Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs, H.E. Mr Jeremy Issacharoff; the Director of the Arms Control Department, H.E. Mr Alon Bar; the Ambassador of Israel to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Mr Eitan Margalit; and Mr Shmuel Limone, a Senior Consultant in the Ministry of Defence of Israel, discussed issues of common interest with the OPCW Director-General.
Ambassador Pfirter briefed the delegation on the status of implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) since its entry into force in 1997, including the rate of destruction of both the chemical weapons production capacity and declared chemical weapons, as well as the implementation of the non-proliferation regime and the legislative and administrative measures required to implement the global chemical weapons ban in full. He stressed the importance of achieving universality of the Convention, including in the Middle East.
The Israeli delegation discussed with the Director-General the security situation in the region and expressed interest in developments related to the CWC in the Middle East and other regions.
Israel signed the CWC on 13 January 1993.
The OPCW has 167 Members States. Of the remaining 27 States that are not as yet Member States, 16 States have signed, but await ratification of the Convention. A further 11 States have not acceded to the Convention and thus remain outside the global ban on chemical weapons. The expansion of the membership of the Organisation will confirm the international community’s trust in, and commitment to, a non-discriminatory, multilateral mechanism to eliminate and ban chemical weapons forever.
03/2005