OPCW Director-General Meets with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security in Brussels
THE HAGUE, Netherlands— 10 July 2018 —The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, met yesterday with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security, H.E. Ms Federica Mogherini in Brussels, Belgium.
The Director-General briefed the High Representative on OPCW’s activities in Syria, efforts to address chemical terrorism and implementation of OPCW projects made possible by the support of the European Union (EU). He thanked her for the EU’s substantial financial contributions to the core activities of the OPCW and its operations in Syria. High Representative Mogherini expressed appreciation for Ambassador Üzümcü’s 8-year leadership at the helm of the Organisation. She also underlined the EU’s continuous support of the effective implementation and universalisation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
The Director-General and the High Representative both agreed that the CWC regime has been seriously threatened since 2012 by the repeated use of chemical weapons in Syria, Iraq, Malaysia and the UK. High Representative Mogherini reiterated the support of the EU to the decision of the Special Conference of CWC States Parties, adopted on 27 June, as a crucial step towards preserving and upholding the global norm against the use of chemical weapons. She confirmed that the EU stands ready to support the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW and to cooperate with all States Parties to the CWC, with a view to the implementation of this decision.
Ambassador Üzümcü expressed his deep appreciation for the EU’s on-going support for the works of the Technical Secretariat and the goals of the Convention.
