Participants at a regional seminar on CWC and Chemical-Safety-and-Security Management, which was held in South Africa.
In cooperation with National Authority of South Africa and the Chemical and Allied Industry Association (CAIA), the OPCW organised a seminar on the Chemical Weapons Convention and Chemical Safety and Security Management for States Parties in the African Region. The event was sponsored under the Africa Programme of the EU Council Decision 2012 with 36 representatives from 20 countries participating.*
The seminar was inaugurated by Mr Daan van Beek, Chief Director of the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, with a special address by Ms Deidre Penfold, Executive Director of CAIA.
The 3-day gathering included presentations by CAIA and other experts on the latest developments and best practices involved in chemical-safety and chemical-security management in South Africa and the African region. These included overviews of effective safety-and-security systems and case studies and lessons learned, and participants also made field visits to Evonik Industries and the Chemical Initiatives in the Durban Chemical Cluster.
The seminar brought together stakeholders representing National Authorities, chemical industries and industry associations, and chemical industry regulators. Participants considered new approaches that can be adopted to chemical safety-and-security management, with the aim of enhancing their capacities to bring these new approaches to their chemical industries and regulatory authorities.
* Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe