The OPCW Deputy Director-General, Mrs Grace Asirwatham, addresses the first Workshop on Article XI of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) for States Parties in the Asia region.
The OPCW Deputy Director-General, Mrs Grace Asirwatham, visited the People’s Republic of China from 3 to 5 September 2012 where she and the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, H.E. Mr Ma Zhaoxu, jointly inaugurated the first Workshop on Article XI of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) for States Parties in the Asia region [PDF – 11 KB], which was co-organised by the OPCW and Government of the People’s Republic of China.
During her visit Mrs Asirwatham also met with senior Government officials and visited the abandoned chemical weapons burial site at Haerbaling.
In Beijing Mrs Asirwatham called on H.E. Mr Ma Zhaoxu, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, and also had a bilateral meeting with Mr Li Yang, Deputy Director-General, Arms Control and Disarmament, and officials of the National Authority and Ministry of Defence. In these meetings important ongoing issues related to the implementation of the CWC were discussed and the Chinese side reaffirmed its commitment to the Convention and continued support for the Technical Secretariat. The Deputy Director-General commended China for its firm commitment to the goals of the CWC and thanked China for its support to the Technical Secretariat.
In her remarks to the opening of the workshop [PDF 28 KB], the Deputy Director-General stated that the workshop is the first of a number of such events related to Article XI that the OPCW will organise to identify and prioritise concrete measures, in line with the decision by the Conference of the States Parties in December 2011 (C 16/DEC.10). The Assistant Minister, Ma Zhaoxu, stated that Article XI is an important pillar of the Convention and urged its full implementation by the OPCW and States Parties. The workshop was attended at 39 participants from 17 States Parties in the Asia region.*
In Haerbaling the Deputy Director-General received a briefing on the progress made in the construction of the destruction facility.
* Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Pakistan, Phillipines, Qatar, Republic of Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam and of course our host nation People’s Republic of China