The OPCW and the National Authority of Barbados, with the support of the Government of United Kingdom, held a training course in Chemical Assistance and Protection for the Caribbean States Parties from 16 to 21 of July.
This ongoing programme in the Caribbean region dates back to the first OPCW training, which took place ahead of the Cricket World Cup in 2007 and has continued with further courses in Trinidad and Jamaica in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Members of the group had also participated in the major international exercise Assistex 3 held in Tunisia in 2010.
At a week-long OPCW training event held at Barbados’ Regional Police Training Centre, working level Police/Fire/emergency first responders from Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago received instruction from regional and international experts. The regional instructors were trained in previous OPCW courses and as a result of the train the trainers approach that has been successfully adopted by the OPCW. UK officials joined CARICOM and OPCW representatives to explore further options for capacity building and ensuring sustainability for the group.
The OPCW places a high priority on regional projects like this event in the Caribbean region which served as an important forum for enhancing regional capacity against chemical weapons and as a first step in creating regional Chemical Weapons Convention assistance and protection training centres.