Chairperson of the Executive Council, Ambassador Lucian Fătu,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
It is my pleasure to give the closing remarks for this event.
I wish to start by thanking you all for your active participation in this briefing at the Centre for Chemistry and Technology and for travelling from Brussels to be with us here today.
The objective of today’s briefing was to provide you with an overview of the work and priorities of the OPCW for this year.
It is intended to help you prepare for the upcoming Twenty-Eighth Session of the Conference of the States Parties and give you a chance to engage with members of the Secretariat.
Your interest in our presentations is highly valued and encouraging to the Secretariat and I hope that you have found them informative and useful.
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
As the Director-General underscored in his opening speech, the Organisation is going through a period of change.
With the recent conclusion of the chemical demilitarisation process, we are now focusing on adapting to the post-destruction era.
In this context, it is clear we must continue to address the challenges that were highlighted by the Director-General and our presenters.
In this new phase of our work, many familiar issues will still require our attention.
– The Syria chemical weapons dossier is not yet closed.
– Chemical terrorism is an ongoing concern for all States Parties.
– The growth of the chemical industry in scale and complexity continues.
– Maintaining a robust verification regime is a key priority.
At the same time, we must seize the opportunities offered by new developments in science and technology to better implement the Chemical Weapons Convention.
In this regard, today’s briefing serves a dual purpose.
We invited you to this gathering not only to brief you but to also give you the opportunity to visit the remarkable new facility in which we sit.
The inauguration of the ChemTech Centre represents a major milestone in the life of the OPCW.
It is essential for our ongoing adaptation to new challenges in the post-destruction phase of our work.
It will be instrumental in advancing our capacity-building activities and international cooperation programmes for States Parties.
We have already begun to make use of the ChemTech Centre platform to deliver training courses, and we encourage you to take full advantage of the future programmes that will take place here.
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Preventing the re-emergence of chemical weapons requires our sustained commitment.
We look forward to continuing to strengthen our engagement with you and we once again thank you for your dedication and support for the OPCW.
Before closing, let me take a moment to reiterate our appreciation for the participation by representatives of the Republic of South Sudan today.
I look forward to meeting all of you afterwards for refreshments and lunch, and I encourage you to take this opportunity to raise any matters that may be of interest to you with members of the Secretariat.
I thank you for your attention.