The OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, visited China from 9-11 November 2010 where he called upon the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr Yang Jiechi, and held meetings with other high-level government and chemical industry officials. While in China he travelled to Nanjing to visit a new mobile facility for destroying chemical weapons abandoned by Japan in China, and to Shanghai where he toured the Lianheng Isocyanate Co. Ltd chemical industry plant.
In addition to his call on Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, the Director-General met with H.E. Mr Xi Guohua, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology; with Mr Cheng Jingre, Director General of Arms Control and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and with Mr Jia Xiaoning, Deputy Director General, Foreign Affairs Office, Ministry of National Defense.
In these meetings he provided an update on the status of implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and discussed related issues of interest to China. The Director-General commended China for its commitment to the Convention and its support to the work of the OPCW, and was assured of China’s continuing cooperation in this regard. In Beijing he also met with a group of chemical industry association representatives to discuss non-proliferation aspects of the Convention.
In Nanjing, the Director-General met with Gen. Chen Weiguo, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Nanjing Military Region, and then visited the mobile destruction facility. The facility was inaugurated on 1 September 2010 in a ceremony attended by senior Chinese and Japanese government representatives and entered into operation in mid-October. The Director-General welcomed the excellent cooperation between Chinese and Japanese authorities regarding the destruction of abandoned chemical weapons.
Following his visit to the Lianheng Isocyanate Co. Ltd chemical industry plant, the Director-General met with Dr. Xiao Guiyu, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.
OPCW NEWS 36/2010