The Director-General delivered a keynote address at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, which took place in Minneapolis on 6-9 March. The work of the OPCW featured prominently at this year’s Forum in photo exhibits and a dialogue session devoted to future challenges for chemical disarmament.
In a broad-ranging speech, A Disarmament for Peace [PDF – 41 KB], Ambassador Üzümcü noted the “vital and intuitive link between disarmament and peace.” He outlined the impact that a comprehensive approach to disarmament can have on peace creation, noting that “disarmament is no more just the absence of weapons than peace is the absence of war.” The Director-General also emphasised the importance of education in creating a “bulwark that sees scientists working instinctively for peace.”
In the course of the forum, Ambassador Üzümcü met President Jimmy Carter and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.