The number of States not Party to the Convention is now reduced to seven.
On 21 May 2009, the Bahamas became the 188th State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, bringing the OPCW closer to achieving its goal of universal adherence.
With Bahamas becoming a State Party, the number of States not Party to the Convention is now reduced to seven: Angola, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, Somalia and Syria.
Welcoming the newest State Party to the Convention as a significant step towards achieving universality of the Convention, the OPCW Director-General stated that “the Bahamas joining the Organisation draws us ever closer to our goal of realising a universal ban on chemical weapons, and we call upon those States that have not yet adhered to the Convention to do so without delay.”
OPCW News 21/2009, distributed 22 May 2009