EMFAAt his meeting yesterday with Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPWC) Ahmet Üzümcü, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet noted that Estonia’s goal is to achieve the complete prohibition and destruction of chemical weapons.
Paet stated that currently 97% of the world’s nations have joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which confirms that most of the countries in the world share the goal of prohibiting chemical weapons and that the convention is a unique means for disarming and preventing the distribution of weapons of mass destruction. “I hope that those nations that have not yet joined the convention will do so very soon,” he added.
Foreign Minister Paet stated that the prohibition and destruction of chemical weapons is important for Estonia and therefore a meeting for representatives from the state institutions of Eastern European countries that have joined the convention will be organised in Tallinn next May.
Estonia signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction on 14 January 1993. The convention has 188 nations participating. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which has its headquarters in The Hague, was established in 1997 on the basis of the convention. The convention prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, distribution and use of chemical weapons. Estonia ratified the convention on 25 June 1999.
Additional information on the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons can be found on the website of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons:
http://www.opcw.org/SPOKESPERSON'S OFFICE
