A seminar for Asian National Authorities on matters of relevance to the chemical industry was held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea from 6-8 November 2006. This seminar was jointly organized by the Government of the Republic of Korea and the OPCW. Over 30 participants from 14 States Parties —Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam— and one State not party, Myanmar, attended the seminar.
The workshop was designed to provide a platform for experience sharing among participating States Parties on topics such as the identification of declarable Article VI activities, discrepancies in the reporting of transfers’ of scheduled chemicals, and sequential inspections conducted by the OPCW. Practical table top exercises on the identification of declarable Article VI activities and inspection procedures were also held during the seminar. Participating States Parties made presentations on the identification of declarable Article VI activities, discrepancies in the reporting of transfers’ of scheduled chemicals, and sequential inspections conducted by the OPCW. A briefing on the implementation plan for conducting sampling and analysis during Schedule 2 inspections was also provided by the Technical Secretariat.
Speaking at the opening of the seminar, Dr Chang-Hyun Nam, Director, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, said that the topics being considered during the seminar were very important “because proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its delivery system constitutes significant threats to international peace and stability. The world must commit itself to non-proliferation efforts. In that sense, the role of the chemical industry in maintaining the WMD non-proliferation regime, especially in chemical weapons, is very critical”. He said that the “Korean government will continue its commitment in co-operating with the OPCW Technical Secretariat and its regional States Parties to meet the expectation of the international community and to carry out a complete and effective implementation of the Convention, ultimately contributing to the accomplishment of the goals under the Convention”.
PR77 / 2006