Participants at a Sub-regional National Capacity Evaluation and Training Workshop for Personnel of National Authorities of States Parties held in Australia.
The OPCW and Government of Australia organised a sub-regional National Capacity Evaluation and Training Workshop for National Authorities of States Parties in Pacific Island States from 20 to 24 May 2014 in Brisbane. The workshop was also supported by a number of resource experts from the Pacific Islands Forum, 1540 Committee and the Government of New Zealand. It was attended by 38 participants from 15 States Parties* and by representatives from Australia and Timor-Leste.
The workshop provided the participants hands-on training on the core aspects of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) including national legislation, the role of National Authorities, Article VI declarations, and the industry verification regime. It also facilitated the sharing of experiences and best practices and created networks among National Authorities in the region. The workshop included a 5-day special module on drafting and preparing national CWC legislation.
In his opening remarks, the Director General of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO), H.E. Dr. Robert Floyd, underlined the crucial role of the CWC in today’s world and the importance of national legal frameworks and architecture to enabling enforcement of its provisions at country level. He offered Australia’s support to the efforts by Pacific Island States to achieve full and effective implementation of the CWC, as did representatives from the Government of New Zealand, Pacific Islands Forum and the 1540 Committee.
*Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.