H.E. Mr Hiroshi Minami, Permanent Representative of Japan to the OPCW, and Ambassador Fernando Arias, OPCW Director-General
THE HAGUE, Netherlands—14 March 2024—The Government of Japan has voluntarily contributed €187,514 to the Trust Fund for the Implementation of Article X of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The contribution is earmarked for OPCW assistance and protection activities related to Ukraine.
The voluntary contribution was formalised on 11 March 2024 in a signing ceremony held between the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Japan to the OPCW, H.E. Mr. Minami Hiroshi, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, at the OPCW’s Headquarters in The Hague.
“The Government of Japan has decided to make a contribution to the ongoing assistance and protection against chemical weapons for Ukraine. We would like to express our gratitude for all the works carried out by the OPCW Technical Secretariat. Our support extends not only to the OPCW’s activities in response to the use or possible use of chemical weapons, but to all the activities conducted by the OPCW Technical Secretariat,” said Ambassador Minami.
“I would like to thank the Government of Japan for its continuous political and financial support to the OPCW and its mission to achieve a world free of chemical weapons. Ensuring the capabilities and preparedness of Member States to protect their populations in the case of a chemical emergency is a critical factor for the effective implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention,” stated the OPCW Director-General.
Background
Japan joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1995 and is currently a member of the Executive Council, the OPCW’s executive organ, which is responsible for promoting the effective implementation of and compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention as well as supervising the activities of the Organisation’s Technical Secretariat.
To date, Japan has contributed a total of EUR 17,101,027 to 13 different OPCW trust funds, including the Trust Fund for Junior Professionals, the Trust Fund for a Centre for Chemistry and Technology (2019), and the Trust Fund for Syria Missions.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention’s entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
On 7 July 2023, the OPCW verified that all chemical weapons stockpiles declared by the 193 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997 — totalling 72,304 metric tonnes of chemical agents — have been irreversibly destroyed under the OPCW’s strict verification regime.
For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.