Rose Gottemoeller, United States Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü
The United States Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Rose Gottemoeller, visited the OPCW headquarters in The Hague today where she delivered an address on “Arms Control in the Information Age” [PDF – 69 KB] to a large gathering of Permanent Representatives, delegates and staff members in the Ieper Room. She also met with the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, and lectured on the same subject later in the day to the annual Summer Programme on WMD Disarmament and Non-proliferation, which the OPCW co-organises with the TMC Asser Institute. During the visit, Gottemoeller stressed U.S support for the OPCW and underscored the U.S. commitment to the complete elimination of chemical weapons stockpiles in the United States and around the world.
Gottemoeller was designated the Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security by U.S. President Barack Obama in February 2012, while also retaining her role as Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance (AVC).
Gottemoeller was the chief U.S. negotiator of the New START Treaty with the Russian Federation , which limits the two countries’ nuclear arsenals and maintains strategic stability. Prior to the Department of State, in 2000, she became a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she also served as the Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center from January 2006 to December 2008.
Her visit to the OPCW and public address were part of The Hague Week on Disarmament and Non-proliferation from 3-7 September. The Week composes a series of public events hosted at various locations around the City and sponsored by key partner organisations, including The Hague municipality, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Forensic Institute, TNO, the Clingendael Institute, PKV Pax Christi, and the Asser Institute.
The Week is linked to the OPCW’s 15th anniversary and intended to raise awareness about WMD disarmament and non-proliferation as urgent issues of the contemporary world, with thought-provoking presentations and discussions by leading officials and experts in the field.