By the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organisation for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons. This year was marked by a significant success of Russia in the area of non-proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction and arms control: on September 27, 2017 the last chemical munitions remaining of all the previous Russian chemical arsenals were destroyed at the “Kizner” specialised facility in the region of Udmurtia. This is a truly milestone event. Our country has successfully fulfilled its key commitment under the Chemical Weapons Convention (or the CWC) – it has completely got rid of its chemical arsenal, which some time ago used to be the largest in the world. This means about 40 thousand tons of deadly chemicals that we inherited from the past. Throughout the existence of the Russian chemical weapons destruction programme enormous amount of work has been done. Seven technologically advanced facilities were built in various regions of our country, unique domestic “know-how” has been developed, highly qualified staff has been trained. A great number of people worked tirelessly in Russia to achieve this goal: large teams of scientists, engineers, technicians and workers were occupied at those enterprises. It would not be an exaggeration to say that a whole new industry has been created solely for the purpose of destroying the chemical arsenal. Leadership of the country paid the closest possible attention to the chemical weapons destruction programme, which had the status of a presidential one. More than 15 ministries and agencies of the Russian Federation have been involved in its implementation under the coordination and supervision of the CWC national authority – the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Of course not everything developed smoothly. Difficulties emerged throughout the implementation process, mainly technical ones. (In particular, due to the sharp increase in the number of expired shells with a high risk of leaking, as well as difficult and expensive destruction of complex design munitions). Consequently, twice we had to extend the period of destruction of the accumulated chemical stockpiles. Nevertheless, Russia managed to come up with the solutions that in the end enabled to finish the process earlier than the official deadline registered in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which envisaged the completion of the destruction no later than 2020.  

The plan of infrastructure creation encompassed a step-by-step launch of the relevant entities. The last chemical facility, “Kizner” was put in operation in 2013. Before the early 2000s – at the time when our country suffered from serious economic challenges – we had to rely on the foreign technical assistance (the share of such assistance was about 10% of the total expenses on the programme). Hence, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all who helped us back then: the donor states (Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA), as well as the European Union. It has to be emphasised that the chemical disarmament in Russia was implemented in strict accordance with the requirements of the environmental legislation. Enhancing environmental security was our top priority. It was achieved by means of thorough monitoring of the chemical destruction facilities and the adjacent area, including supervision over the health of the population and the facilities staff. At all the stages of the programme great attention was given to well-being of the employees. Significant funds were allocated to create and maintain social infrastructure in the regions where the chemical facilities were located – schools, hospitals, kindergartens, stadiums were constructed. This allowed raising the level of life of the local population and providing the necessary human resources for the chemical disarmament sites. Russia invested huge amounts of funds in the construction of the chemical weapons destruction facilities (more than 330 billion roubles in total). But at the moment we have a new topical and ambitious target ahead: find the way to use them for civil purposes after the completion of the programme and not only in the chemical industry. In particular, these high-tech complexes are to be engaged into the national economy as the basis for new investment projects that will also employ the existing staff after retraining. A set of projects has already been determined for each of the seven facilities to be converted. By completing the destruction of its chemical arsenals this year, i.e. three years earlier than planned, Russia has confirmed its commitment to the international obligations. This event, as the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin stressed out in his welcoming speech to the participants of the ceremony at the “Kizner” chemical facility on September 27, has become “a huge step towards greater balance and security in the modern world”. We hope that our success in the area of chemical disarmament will serve as an example for other CWC States Parties, which will act as devotedly and consistently as the Russian Federation in order to fulfil their obligations undertaken within the international treaties. Particularly, we expect the US (the second largest possessor of chemical weapons), which are to complete their destruction only in 2023, will make additional efforts in this direction. In that case we will move another step further towards the cherished goal – the world completely free from chemical weapons. It is symbolic that the complete elimination of the Russian chemical arsenals happened in the year of the 20^th anniversary of the CWC and OPCW, which in 2013 was awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize for its enormous efforts in freeing the humanity from the chemical weapons. Russia is grateful to the OPCW Technical Secretariat that assisted us over the whole period of the programme and contributed a lot to this uneasy struggle for our common chemical-free future that we are building for next generations.

By H.E. Mr Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Ambassador of the Republic of El Salvador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A big ocean and more than nine thousand kilometers separate the land of Cuscatlán – primitive name given to El Salvador – and the land of the tulips and the windmills. While people in El Salvador have learned to live among volcanoes, earthquakes and hot weather all year long, people in the Netherlands are use to live surrounded by water everywhere and in many parts of the country, they live below the sea level and with an unpredictable four seasons in one day. With these marked geographical conditions, to affirm that both societies have things in common would be extremely risky. The experience of living abroad is a reality that every diplomat of any country faces every day, knowing the customs, the culture and in general the way of life of the receiving country. This experience allows me to share why I consider both societies are closer than everyone can imagine. El Salvador, as many countries in the world, has its everyday challenges, many of them are tackled through the direct institutional action, and some others are supported in solidarity from different parts of the world. The equation that unites both societies is precisely the spirit of support and solidarity, a main virtue of the Dutch people and the challenges that in different ways exist in El Salvador. This context allows me to share about Vastenactie, a Dutch Organization that since 2017, is supporting the youth affected by violence, through a three year program named “Islands of Hope in San Salvador”, helping to create opportunities for a fairer, humane and prosperous society. Behind Vastenactie there is a great number of anonymous Dutch donors, who by different means and solidarity change the conditions of life of many adolescents who most probably will never get to know. But Vastenactie is not alone inspiring Dutch people in solidarity. Up in the north of the country, in the beautiful city of Hoorn, there is a School identified as Tabor College Oscar Romero. Oscar Romero is known as the most universal Salvadoran, because he dedicated his life, as Archbishop of San Salvador, until his murder in March 1980, to raise his voice for the poor and the people in need, when their rights were being violated. No better words to define how Oscar Romero was as the Tabor College does: justified, refreshing, dedicated and open. The spirit of justice and the search of truth of Archbishop Romero inspired in 1983 a group of Dutch notable academic people to nominate the Tabor College as “Oscar Romero”. Now, almost 35 years after the nomination, a sense of solidarity has risen from the School authorities and all the academic community when knowing the conditions of two schools in El Salvador. The College, while developing a fundraising campaign which will engage students, parents, teachers and friends of the Tabor College Oscar Romero, is about to change the life of more than one thousand five hundred students of the “Centro Escolar Fermín Velasco” in the city of Sensuntepeque and many others of the “Centro Escolar Reino de Holanda”, in San Salvador, which means “School Kingdom of the Netherlands”, nomination given as a symbol of the historic bonds of friendship that exist between both peoples and governments. Indeed, there are many more stories to mention about the spirit of solidarity from the Netherlands to El Salvador, but with the picture of the most recent ones, materialized by Vastenactie and the Tabor College Oscar Romero, it is meaningful to affirm that both societies have become closer enough, no matter the differences of culture and the geographical distance between them. What is clear is the conviction and certainty that when there is a solidarity society as the Dutch society and a grateful one as the Salvadoran society, there will be a better world.  

By H.E. Andrea Perugini, Ambassador of Italy to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The current migration phenomenon surely is one of the major challenges which Italy and the International Community are facing since the end of the Second World War. The continuous massive inflow of refugees Italy was forced to cope with over the last few years has severely put to the test the Italian capacity to accommodate displaced persons, notwithstanding the ongoing investments in relevant structures and the enormous economic and social costs that Italy sustained. Whereas in 2013, a total of 22.118 persons were hosted in temporary structures, this figure has risen at present to 174.356 persons. From 2014 onwards, a special structure with a new accommodation system, in particular for minors, has been set up which consists of 19 operative structures, including 950 sites spread out in 10 different Italian Regions. The cost of running these emergency migration inflows as a whole, including rescue-operations at sea, assistance and first need provision, shelter and outplacement, placed a heavy burden on the Italian Budget, equal to 0,2% of its 2016 GDP, the equivalent of 3,3 billion euro. Estimates for 2017, made by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, have risen to 3,8 billion euro. However, in case the influx of asylum-seekers were to further increase, this figure could even rise to 4,2 billion euro. Indeed, the problem of irregular migration affects not only Italy or Greece, nor is it merely Europe’s problem: Italian diplomacy is at the forefront since many years in promoting initiatives and awareness in order to show that what we are facing is actually a global phenomenon. That is why we are engaged in a number of global initiatives in addition to regional ones. The high level conferences held last year in New York on September 19th and 20th were a step forward towards a more coordinated management of migration. The Declaration adopted at these conferences, organized by the Secretary General of the United Nations, endorses the principle of “Shared Responsibility” which Italy has been supporting as of the outset, in the awareness that over the coming years migration will remain pivotal in light of the wide and growing demographic disparities between Europe and Africa. It is in this respect encouraging that following the New York Declaration negotiations will lead to the adoption of the so called Global Compact on refugees and Global on Migration before the end of the year 2018. Following the New York Declaration, Italy is deeply engaged in negotiations which will lead to the adoption of these two Global Compacts. We argue that we should set aside the traditional and outdated “emergency-approach” to human mobility, and replace it with an overarching long term strategy, aiming at transforming irregular mass migration flows into regular migration channels in a predictable and manageable manner.

In these Global Compact negotiations, Italy is granting priority to two fundamental principles: a) partnership between countries of origin, countries of transit and those of final destination and, b) shared responsibility in the management of flows as well as in the protection of migrants and refugees, especially the most vulnerable ones. The objectives which the Italian diplomacy is pursuing through such Global Compacts are: 1) promoting public and private investments in the countries of origin and in the countries of transit, with the aim of contributing to improve the management of flows and to counter the fundamental causes of immigration; 2) protecting migrants and the most vulnerable refugees (women, minors, in particular those without parents, or those separated from their parents); 3) valuing the positive aspects of migration, to be shared between countries of origin, countries of transition and those of final destination. We are determined to transform these Global Compact principles into concrete actions. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is an urgent need to step up cooperation with countries of transit. Not only in order to counter human trafficking and criminal networks interfering with migration movements, but also to confront the deeper-lying causes of the migration phenomenon itself. To underline even more the central role countries of transit play in the management of migration flows, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Angelino Alfano chaired on July 6th a first International Ministerial Conference entitled “A shared responsibility for a common goal: solidarity and security”. This event was an occasion for dialogue and comparison between the major African and European transit and destination countries of migration. The Director General of the International Organization for Migrations and the Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees also contributed. The objective of the meeting was to focus on good neighborhood and on strengthening support, from Italy as well as from Europe, to countries most affected by the current migration crisis along the routes which lead, from Sub Saharan Africa and through the Mediterranean Sea, to Europe. The final aim of this event was to put around the same table the EU countries which have contributed the most to putting into effect the Migration Compact (Germany, France, The Netherlands and Spain) together with the African countries of transit which have shown major willingness to collaborate on immigration (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Niger, Sudan). An integrated approach was pursued which aims to support local communities, to fight against human trafficking, in strengthening border controls, protect human rights, assist migrants and refugees providing them with increased opportunities for voluntary repatriation. Italian diplomacy is fully engaged in persuading the International Community Particularly significant were the announcements of contributions from several European countries, a testimony of concrete results obtained at this conference. We are pleased that the Netherlands is taking a leadership role in this regards consistently with the spirit of H. M. The King Willem Alexander’s visit to Palermo during his State Visit to Italy in June 2017. In particular, The Netherlands has provided 10 million euro to the International Migrations Organization and 6 million to UNHCR out of a total commitment of 50 million euros, including funds announced previously. This ranks The Netherlands in third position, as far as contributor countries are concerned. Starting from this conference, a strengthened Partnership between European countries and African countries of transit has been put into place, so that this dialogue format may have continuity beyond the Declaration. The next edition of the Ministerial Conference on shared responsibility in managing migration flows will take place in Rome, at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in February 2018 in order to provide continuity to this process and to such an innovative form of dialogue All countries which have contributed to the July meeting are being invited including countries of origin and transit. It would be highly desirable that a wide participation will further strengthen the commonly shared goal of finding structural and sustainable solutions to this global challenge.