Participants, OPCW staff and host country officials.
The OPCW Deputy Director-General, Mrs Grace Asirwatham, visited Nicosia on 27 and 28 May 2013 where she addressed the opening of the11th annual meeting of CWC National Authorities of States Parties in the Asia region and met with Government officials.
In her opening statement, Mrs Asirwatham noted that the regional meeting was the first to be hosted by Cyprus and expressed appreciation for its significant contribution to advancing implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). She noted that Asia’s rapid economic development and growing chemical industry sector, and the accompanying significant trade in chemicals, makes the region ever more important to the successful implementation of the Convention. The Deputy Director-General highlighted the “substantive and meaningful” outcome document of the recent Third Review Conference, adding that it will provide important guidance for the future work of the OPCW.
In Nicosia, Mrs Asirwatham had meetings with Mr. Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism; with Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and with the heads of the Cyprus National Authority and of the State General Laboratory.
During her visit she also delivered a lecture at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cyprus on “OPCW: A Success in Disarmament and its Future Challenges.”