On 15 July 2011, the Chairman of the Advisory Panel on Future OPCW Priorities, Ambassador Rolf Ekéus of Sweden, submitted the Panel’s final report to OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü.
The Advisory Panel was established in December 2010 to review the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and to make recommendations on future priorities for the OPCW. The Panel consisted of 14 independent experts on arms control and disarmament, the chemical industry and science and technology.
When submitting the report, Ambassador Ekéus said: “It is my hope that the detailed scrutiny by the participants and the many specific proposals developed in that process by them will serve as something of a reform-agenda for the Participating States when they have to consider the future of the OPCW.”
The Panel held a total of four meetings, in December 2010, and in February, May and July 2011. The report was adopted by consensus and provides many recommendations for consideration by the Director-General and by OPCW Member States. It has been made available to all Member States and has now been posted on the OPCW website.
Thanking the Panel members for their contribution, the Director-General said that he expects the report to form the basis for a focused and constructive discussion among Member States.
The Panel’s report will now be further considered by Member States and will contribute to ongoing discussions on the future priorities of the OPCW. The Director-General has invited all Permanent Representatives to the OPCW to an informal “retreat” near The Hague in September to discuss the report’s recommendations in more detail.
Disclaimer
The publication of the Advisory Panel report on this website is not to be seen as an endorsement of the views, content and recommendations therein by the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW, nor the States Parties. You can find more information about the Advisory Panel here.