H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (left) met with Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü during an official visit to the OPCW Headquarters on 4 April, 2012.
H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, paid an official visit to the OPCW Headquarters on 4 April, 2012. He was accompanied by H.E. Dr Olexander Horin, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the OPCW, and Mr Oleg Voloshyn, Director-General for Information Policy from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.
The Director-General briefed the Minister and the visiting delegation on the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, in light of the steady progress being made by the Organization in the field of chemical weapons destruction. The Director-General stressed that while changes to the nature of OPCW’s work are likely in the coming years, its core competences need to be kept in place in order to be able to respond swiftly and effectively to unforeseen situations. Foreign Minister Gryshchenko assured the Director-General of Ukraine’s continued readiness to contribute to the objectives of the Convention, particularly through facilitating the conduct of relevant activities in its region.
Foreign Minister Gryshchenko has been long engaged in multilateral arms control and disarmament matters, having, among other things, chaired the National Committee of Ukraine on Disarmament, and was the representative of the Ukraine to the Joint Compliance and Inspection Commission under the START-I Treaty. He served as Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the OPCW from 1998-2000.