On 1 June 2007, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter paid an official visit to the Republic of Peru.
On 1 June 2007, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter paid an official visit to the Republic of Peru.
During his visit, the Vice Minister of Defence of Peru, H. E. Mrs Nuria Esparch, and the Director-General opened a national workshop on chemical weapons to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Reiterating Peru’s strong support for the OPCW’s mission over the past decade in her opening address to the workshop, Vice Minister Esparch stressed that Peru is actively engaged in the Organisation’s efforts to achieve the CWC’s universal and effective implementation of the Convention.
In his keynote address to the workshop, Director-General Pfirter commended Peru’s strong commitment to the full and effective implementation of the CWC. He also expressed appreciation for Peru’s efforts to encourage and support other Member States in fulfilling their commitments under the CWC. Noting the events commemorating the CWC’s anniversary to raise awareness of the CWC, Director-General Pfirter thanked the Peruvian Government for organising the national workshop.
The First Vice-President of the Republic, H.E. Admiral Luis Giampietri, emphasized in his meeting with the Director-General Peru’s long standing commitment to general and complete disarmament, as well as to the effective implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Director-General Pfirter expressed the hope that close cooperation among Latin American and Caribbean Member States would continue to strengthen to ensure that the CWC’s objectives are achieved. In his meeting with Vice-President Giampietri, Director-General Pfirter reviewed the OPCW’s progress towards universal and effective adherence. He stated that the destruction of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction and the continuing assurance that chemical weapons will not proliferate represent tangible contributions to international peace and security.
In the course of his visit, Director-General Pfirter also met the President of the Congressional Commission for National Defence, Security, Alternative Development, and the Fight against Drugs, H.E. Dr Luis Gonzáles Posada, with whom the Director-General discussed the important role played by parliamentarians in establishing the legal and administrative basis for the CWC’s national enforcement.
The Director-General’s visit also included meetings with the head of the Peruvian National Authority, Consejo Nacional para la Prohibición de las Armas Químicas (CONAPAQ), H.E. Ms Rosa María del Castillo. Ms Castillo briefed Director-General Pfirter on Peru’s progress in drafting additional national legislation. She was optimistic that the draft legislation would be submitted to the Peruvian Congress in the near future, in order to fully comply with the CWC’s national implementation requirements.
In his closing address to the national workshop, the Vice-Minister of Industry, H.E. Mr Carlos Ferraro Rey, highlighted chemical industry’s crucial contribution in preventing the spread of chemical weapons and commended industry’s on-going cooperation with the OPCW’s mission to thwart the manufacture of new chemical weapons.
PR60 / 2007