THE HAGUE, Netherlands — 6 March 2019 — The Government of the Swiss Confederation is contributing CHF 150,000 toward the formation and operation of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) team to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic pursuant to the decision on addressing the threat from chemical weapons use adopted by the Conference of the States Parties at its Fourth Special Session.
The donation was formalised recently through an agreement signed by OPCW Director-General, H.E. Mr Fernando Arias, and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs represented by H.E. Ambassador Ms Nadine Olivieri Lozano, Head of the Division for Security Policy, and Minister Nicolas Plattner, Head of Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-proliferation Section, Division for Security Policy.
The Director-General has appealed to all OPCW Member States in a position to make voluntary contributions to do so. In making such appeals, he has emphasised, “Identifying perpetrators will advance existing endeavours to tackle the re-emergence of use of chemical weapons”.
As part of implementing the above-mentioned decision, the OPCW is currently assembling a team of experts and setting up necessary procedures.
