In furthering the objectives of the Follow Up to the OPCW Plan of Action Regarding the Implementation of Article VII Obligations and of the OPCW Action Plan for the Universality of the Convention, the Technical Secretariat organised a meeting of legal experts and a training course for customs officials of member states of the Caribbean Forum on the Chemical Weapons Convention, in Saint Kitts and Nevis, on 24-25 and 27 on April 2006, respectively.
Lawyers charged with the development of CWC implementing procedures in the following 10 OPCW Member States —Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago— and in one State not Party —the Bahamas— attended the meeting of legal experts. A legal drafter from the secretariat of the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) also participated. The meeting pursued the objective of providing direct bilateral technical assistance to each participating country which is beginning or which is already in the process of drafting its national legislative and administrative measures required to implement the Convention.
Enforcement officials of 10 OPCW Member States —Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago— and of one State not Party —the Bahamas— attended the training course for customs officials. The course offered information and basic training on the legal as well as practical aspects of the transfers-related provisions of the Convention and on how these provisions affect the work of Caribbean customs authorities. The participants will be expected to share the knowledge obtained in the training course with their national licensing and customs authorities, with a view to increasing their governments’ capacity to track transfers of scheduled chemicals and to accurately report them to the OPCW.
The format of both meetings proved useful for the Technical Secretariat to provide direct expert assistance to each of the participating countries and thus to facilitate their efforts in the light of the deadlines established in the Article VII plan of action and the objectives of the universality action plan. Bilateral assistance initiated or promoted further in Saint Kitts and Nevis, will continue in the future, with the aim of helping participating countries to finalise and to put in place the required implementation procedures as expeditiously as possible.
PR21 / 2006