Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Dear Colleagues,
I wish to warmly welcome all participants to this information session.
Today, we are announcing a new series of special projects for extrabudgetary funding under the Africa Programme and calling for voluntary contributions.
The full proposal for each project and the Secretariat’s presentation will be available on “Catalyst,” and you will be provided with a link to them.
During this meeting, we will share basic information about the projects, with the full details available in the proposals, and the Secretariat is ready to answer any questions you may have.
With 52 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention being African, the Continent is a key part of the OPCW membership.
Through their active participation and advocacy, African States Parties play a crucial role in upholding the objectives of the Convention both within the continent and globally.
The rapid expansion of its chemical industry and trade means that Africa has specific needs and priorities in relation to the Convention, particularly with respect to development and security.
Accordingly, the Secretariat gives special attention to the region through the Africa Programme, which aims to strengthen the capacities of African Member States in national implementation, thereby supporting the broader efforts of the OPCW.
Under the Programme, the Secretariat provides a diverse range of activities that aid capacity building and technical assistance, and sponsor knowledge exchange in areas of peaceful chemistry.
Activities within the Programme span all the priority and focus areas of support to our States Parties.
In this context, the Centre for Chemistry and Technology continues to be an important tool for the Organisation for the delivery of in-person and remote capacity-building activities, notably in areas of chemical emergency response and laboratory training, with a focus on Proficiency testing.
The Secretariat remains committed to further developing the potential of the Centre based on the requirements of States Parties, including in the Africa region.
Distinguished participants,
The activities conducted under the Africa Programme continue to be funded through the OPCW regular budget and are complimented with voluntary contributions from donors.
The Secretariat achieved remarkable success in the conduct of the first set of the Programme’s extrabudgetary projects announced in July 2020.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the donors for their support.
The Secretariat also appreciates the Member States and institutions that co-organised and hosted these activities.
In view of the progress achieved, the Secretariat has now prepared a new set of ten extrabudgetary project proposals, with a total estimated budget of EUR 2.6 million.
These projects address the three overarching areas of needs defined by African Member States: strengthening transfer controls; boosting chemical response capacities; and developing the capabilities of African laboratories.
By improving these aspects of chemical security in Africa, the Secretariat will continue to contribute to building knowledge, skills, and resilience to counter chemical terrorism in the continent.
As such, they are expected to significantly boost the impact of the Programme and directly advance the implementation of the Convention on the continent.
I encourage Member States to consider funding these projects, which align with the priorities of the Organisation and Africa.
Without further ado, let me hand the floor to Mr Li Zhao, Acting Director of the International Cooperation and Assistance Division, and Mr Dawsar Drissi, Programme Advisor and Coordinator of the Africa Programme, to brief you on the new projects and answer any questions you may have.
I thank you again for joining this meeting.
I wish you every success, and I look forward to our continued collaboration.
I thank you.