UN Secretary General Meets OPCW Director-General (UN photo)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the OPCW as a “front runner” in the sphere of disarmament and non-proliferation.
The OPCW Director General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, visited the United Nations in New York on 15 and 16 October 2009 where he met with UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon and addressed the First Committee of the General Assembly. The Director-General also held meetings with States not Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
In their discussion, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warmly commended the OPCW and the Director-General for the progress made towards achieving the universality of the CWC and destroying global chemical weapons stockpiles. Noting the favourable political climate today for reviving progress on disarmament, he described the OPCW as a “front runner” in the sphere of disarmament and non-proliferation and expressed the hope that total destruction of existing chemical weapons will be completed by the April 2012 deadline set by the Convention.
Director-General Pfirter briefed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the status of implementation of the CWC, including the remaining challenges such as achieving complete universality and meeting the April 2012 deadline. In the latter context and in terms of the way forward, he noted the OPCW’s tradition of constructive engagement and consensus-based policymaking as unique strengths of the Organisation, highlighting as an example the consensus decision by the OPCW Executive Council to recommend H.E. Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü of Turkey for appointment as the next Director-General.
In his address to the First Committee, Director-General Pfirter cited the continuing steady progress being made towards eliminating chemical weapons and ensuring their non-proliferation, and the ‘obvious and substantial” contribution this makes to international peace and security. In this context, he highlighted the recent achievement of an important milestone with the verified destruction of 50 percent of all declared chemical weapons and congratulated India for becoming the third possessor state to completely destroy its stockpile. The Director-General commended the Russian Federation and the United States for their firm commitment to completely eliminate their chemical weapons while noting the short time remaining for them to accomplish this within the Convention’s deadlines. He also expressed the hope that Libya will be able to fulfil its obligations to destroy its chemical weapons in a timely manner.
The Director-General also noted that during the past year, four more countries had joined the CWC, namely, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Iraq and Lebanon, bringing the number of States Parties to 188.
In his wide-ranging address, the Director-General furthermore stressed the importance of effective domestic implementation of the Convention and its efficacy in the context of anti-terrorism; recalled in this context OPCW’s cooperation with the relevant UN bodies; and highlighted the OPCW’s role in promoting peaceful uses of chemistry.
Earlier, the Director-General held bilateral meetings with Permanent Representatives of Egypt, Israel, Myanmar and Syria. In the meetings Director-General Pfirter underscored the importance attached by the OPCW to promoting universality of the Convention and to maintaining constructive dialogue with States not Party.
During his visit, the Director-General was also a guest of honour at a luncheon hosted by the Permanent Representative of Poland to the UN and other International Organisations in Geneva. On that occasion, he briefed the participating representatives of states Members of the Conference on Disarmament about the progress made by OPCW in disarmament and non-proliferation as well as other key programme areas of the Organisation, and expressed the hope that this could serve as an example for other related international forums.