The OPCW and the Institut National de Recherche et d’Analyse Physico-chimique (INRAP) of Tunisia co-organised the second Analytical Chemistry course to be conducted in French under the OPCW’s Programme to Strengthen Cooperation with Africa (“Africa Programme”). The course was held from 4 to 15 March 2013 in Sidi Thabét, Tunisia and attended by 15 African participants from 11 States Parties*.
Tunisia’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Professor Moncef Ben Salem, addressed the opening ceremony and underlined the importance of the OPCW’s international cooperation programmes in helping build capacity in developing countries.
The course featured a combination of lectures and practical exercises on general aspects of the OPCW, the Chemical Weapons Convention and its verification annex. It included training in the use of Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) for the analysis of chemicals related to the Convention. Good laboratory practice, sample preparation, and the applications of the OPCW Central Analytical Database (OCAD) in compound identification were also covered.
The Analytical Chemistry course is designed for chemists from laboratories in Member States with the objective of building domestic capacity and promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry. The Africa Programme focuses on activities and interventions to respond to particular needs of States Parties in the region.
* Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia.