From 6 to 9 February 2006, experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) conducted the second, in-depth implementation training workshop for Iraqi officials, preparing their Government’s accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention. This workshop, organised by the OPCW and hosted by the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Amman, Jordan, follows the initial training seminar held in July 2005 at OPCW headquarters in The Hague. Representatives from the Iraqi Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Human Rights, as well as from the National Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, participated in the four-day workshop.
The Republic of Iraq has not yet joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Iraqi Government has declared both its intention to accede to the Convention, as well as its commitment to all international norms related to non-proliferation, including prohibition of the development, production and acquisition of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and their delivery systems
The training course provides the Iraqi officials the expert guidance needed to prepare obligatory declarations, efficiently operate a National Authority, enact national implementing legislation and put in place the required regulatory measures to eliminate chemical weapons and to prevent their spread in accordance with the Convention.
In the course of the year, the OPCW will conduct a further national implementation training course for Iraqi government representatives.
PR6 / 2006