Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü’s meeting with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica, H.E. Mr Alejandro Solano Ortiz.
The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, met with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica, H.E. Mr Alejandro Solano Ortiz, at OPCW Headquarters in The Hague yesterday.
Ambassador Üzümcü and Mr Solano Ortiz discussed a range of issues pertaining to the current agenda as well as future priorities of the OPCW.
“Costa Rica is a vigorous proponent of the OPCW’s mission since the Organisation’s inception. The valuable contributions from Costa Rica to the OPCW help keep the global ban on chemical weapons on a firm footing,” stated Ambassador Üzümcü.
Mr Solano Ortiz stated: “Now, more than ever, OPCW Member States must lend their unfaltering support to the Organisation, especially considering the recent instances of chemical weapons use. Costa Rica will continue to work tirelessly with the OPCW, an Organisation we consider to be an indispensable element of international peace and security; and will strive to ensure it has the necessary means to fulfil its mission, as well as to strengthen its mandate. Our country will also continue to support the efforts to achieve the universality of the Chemical Weapons Convention.”
Background
Costa Rica joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997. Costa Rica actively supports and engages with OPCW activities, including national and regional capacity building through the OPCW’s international cooperation programmes.
The Chemical Weapons Convention comprehensively prohibits the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of chemical weapons. Any chemical used for warfare is considered a chemical weapon by the Convention.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention’s entry into force in 1997 — with its 192 States Parties — it is the most successful disarmament treaty in existence, eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
To date, nearly 93 per cent of all chemical weapon stockpiles declared by possessor states have been destroyed under OPCW verification. For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Prize for Peace.