Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü (left) visited with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr.
Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü visited Australia from 24 to 26 July 2012 where he had meetings with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Honourable Bob Carr, and a host of other Government officials in Sydney and Canberra.
In his meeting with the Foreign Minister in Sydney, Director-General Üzümcü discussed recent developments in the Middle East, efforts to achieve universality of the Chemical Weapons Convention – specifically in the Australasia region – and future priorities of the OPCW.
The Director-General also met with senior representatives of the Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association (PACIA) in Sydney to discuss the OPCW’s engagement with industry stakeholders, and delivered an address at the Lowy Institute for International Policy [PDF – 35 KB] on the challenge of chemical weapons disarmament.
In Canberra, Director-General Üzümcü met with Ms Heather Smith, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and participated in a roundtable discussion with officials representing the departments of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Defence, and Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Federal Police and the Attorney General’s Department.
The Director-General had a separate roundtable discussion at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute with a group of non-governmental experts, and visited the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Data Centre (CBRNDC) and Bomb Data Centre. He also presented the Dr John Gee Memorial Lecture [PDF – 44 KB] at Australian National University in Canberra where he was introduced by the university’s Chancellor and former Foreign Minister of Australia, the Honourable Gareth Evans.
During his visit to Australia the Director-General was featured in an exclusive 10-min interview [FLV] on Australia Network Television discussing the situation of chemical weapons in Syria.