Chemical weapons and a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East on the agenda in Helsinki
Press release 329/2011
5 December 2011
Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will visit Finland, at the invitation of Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, on 7–8 December.
Items on the agenda for discussion with Foreign Minister Tuomioja are a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East and Finland’s role in preparing the conference to promote this zone, as well as topical challenges facing the OPCW’s activities and Finland’s support for the OPCW and its Member States.
Apart from Foreign Minister Tuomioja, Director-General Üzümcü will meet with Development Minister Heidi Hautala, Under-Secretary of State Jaakko Laajava, and Rector Thomas Wilhelmsson of the University of Helsinki, and he will make a visit to the European Chemicals Agency. In addition, the Director-General will open the Third International Workshop on Analysis of Chemical Warfare Agents, hosted by the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN), which monitors the Chemical Weapons Convention in Finland.
Headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, the OPCW promotes and monitors the realisation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Chemical Weapons Convention, which came into force in 1997, stipulates the destruction of all existing chemical weapons and their production plants. In all, 188 states thus far have joined the Convention. Operating under the University of Helsinki, VERIFIN supports compliance with the Convention by developing analytical methods for chemical warfare agents and by providing related training for chemists from developing countries. Moreover, VERIFIN acts as Finland’s national authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Additional information: First Secretary Aleksi Vakkuri, tel. +358 9 1605 6030, mobile tel. +358 40 352 0783; and Susanna Parkkonen, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, mobile tel. +358 50 377 5601