The President of the Romanian National Agency for Export Control Meets OPCW Director-General and Addresses the Conference of the States Parties

18 November 2005

On 10 November 2005, H.E. Mrs Liliana Ghervasuc, State Secretary, President of the National Agency for Export Control, Romania, and head of the Romanian delegation to the Tenth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), visited the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague and met OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter. The Director-General provided Mrs Ghervasuc an overview of the current status of the implementation of the CWC.

Mrs Ghervasuc expressed her Government’s firm commitment to supporting the goals of the CWC and staunch support for the OPCW, including full and effective implementation of the chemical weapons ban.

During their meeting, Director-General Pfirter noted the crucial role that National Authorities play in the effective implementation of the Convention. He stressed that National Authorities must be established and the necessary legislation and administrative measures enacted to ensure that the chemical ban is maintained.

Director-General Pfirter expressed his appreciation for Romania’s contribution to the improved implementation of the CWC by National Authorities, in particular commending the work of the Romanian National Authority, in collaboration with the United States, in its development and distribution of the training materials to National Authorities, which provide a useful and practical basis from which National Authorities can undertake to complete their obligations under the CWC.

In her address to the Tenth Session of the Conference of the States Parties, Mrs Ghervasuc assured the Conference that “Romania will continue to fulfill, in an efficient and operative manner, all its commitments as a State Party to the CWC, as a contribution to strengthen regional and global security”. She noted that “the Chemical Weapon Convention – although very much a work in progress – serves the international community as a vital instrument of international security”.

76/2005