H.E. Ambassador Luis Vassy, Permanent Representative of the French Republic to the OPCW, and H.E. Mr Fernando Arias, OPCW Director-General.
France provides further support to the work of the OPCW’s special missions and contingency operations in the Syrian Arab Republic
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – 10 May 2021 – The Government of France is contributing €1M toward supporting the activities of the Trust Fund for Syria Missions at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The Fund supports the Organisation’s special missions and contingency operations related specifically to the Syrian Arab Republic. France’s new contribution aims to assist in full elimination of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Programme and clarification of facts related to the alleged use of chemical weapons, in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and relevant decisions of the policy-making organs of the OPCW. The contribution will support the work of the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) and the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM).
Ambassador Vassy remarked: “I am really pleased to make this year a further significant contribution to the activities of the OPCW in Syria in order to enable its mechanisms to pursue independently their investigations. It is in line with France’s steadfast determination to put an end to the threat of chemical weapons in Syria, which is fundamentally unacceptable – as the Conference of State Parties recently reaffirmed in adopting the decision tabled by my delegation on behalf of 46 countries.”
The Director-General expressed his gratitude to the Government of France and noted: “This contribution will help the OPCW to continue its vital work in Syria where both the DAT and FFM face a host of issues that require a coordinated international response to ensure that the norms and principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention are upheld.”
