Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü (Right) with the Chief of the Armed Forces of Switzerland, Lieutenant General André Blattmann.
The Chief of the Armed Forces of Switzerland, Lieutenant General André Blattmann, visited the OPCW headquarters today where he met with Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü and received a detailed briefing on the Organisation’s activities by senior staff members.
In their meeting, the Director-General provided an update to Lieutenant General Blattmann on the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria and the status of international support for the removal and destruction of Syrian chemicals outside of the country. He expressed appreciation for Switzerland’s strong commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention and for its active and longstanding support to the work of the OPCW, including its support for the Syrian operations.
Lieutenant General Blattman congratulated the OPCW for its receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 and commended the Organisation for its work in mobilising and coordinating international support for the Joint Mission in Syria.
“We wish to thank the Director General and his whole team for the extraordinary efforts related to the Syrian operation, and hope that the destruction will be achieved according to plan,” Lieutenant General Blattman said. “Switzerland has always supported the OPCW and will continue to do so in the future, in particular within the framework of the Syrian operations.”