Press releases

  • Special Coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission holds consultations in Riyadh
    20 Mar 2014 - 16 January 2014 - Sigrid Kaag, the Special Coordinator for the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria held consultations in Riyadh with the Government of Saudi Arabia, including His Highness Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Kabeer, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs.
  • OPCW completes first round of verification activities in Syria
    20 Mar 2014 - 28 October 2013 - As of 27 October 2013, inspectors of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria completed verification activities at 21 of the 23 chemical weapons related sites declared by Syria. The two remaining sites have not been visited due to security reasons. Efforts by the Joint Mission to ensure the conditions necessary for safe access to those sites will continue.
  • OPCW deploys second team of inspectors to expand verification and destruction activities in Syria
    20 Mar 2014 - 8 October 2013 - The OPCW Technical Secretariat in The Hague will deploy a second team of inspectors for the mission in Syria that will augment the advance team of OPCW experts, who have been in Syria since 1 October conducting verification and destruction activities. In his opening statement to the 74th session of the OPCW Executive council, Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü reported on the progress of the OPCW mission in Syria, inter alia:
  • OPCW-UN press release [update] on the advance team in Syria
    20 Mar 2014 - 11 October 2013 - The advance team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations has made good progress in verifying the information submitted by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic on its chemical weapons programme. At the end of the first ten days of operations on the ground the verification teams have inspected three sites and plans are underway for further site visits.
  • First priority chemicals in Syria transported to Latakia and removed from the country
    20 Mar 2014 - 7 January 2013 - The removal of the first consignment of priority chemicals from the Syrian Arab Republic took place today. The chemicals were transported from two sites and loaded onto a Danish vessel which left the port of Lattakia. The operation was assisted and verified by the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria.
  • UN Security Council endorses expeditious destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme
    20 Mar 2014 - 27 September 2013 - Deeply outraged by the use of chemical weapons on 21 August in a Damascus suburb, as concluded by a United Nations investigation team, the Security Council this evening endorsed the expeditious destruction of Syria's chemical weapons programme, with inspections to begin by 1 October, and agreed that in the event of non-compliance, it would impose "Chapter VII" measures.
  • Special Coordinator on the first removal of chemical weapons material from Syria
    20 Mar 2014 - 7 January 2013 – The Joint Mission confirms that further progress has been made towards the removal and elimination of the Syrian Arab Republic's chemical weapons programme. A first quantity of priority chemical materials was moved from two sites to the port of Lattakia for verification and was then loaded onto a Danish commercial vessel today.
  • Commercial chemical companies invited to dispose of a significant part of chemicals from Syria
    20 Mar 2014 -
    22 November 2013 - In accordance with the decision of the OPCW Executive Council’s adopted on 15 November 2013 which requested the Director-General of the Organisation to explore ‘options for destruction in commercial chemical disposal facilities’ of a range of chemicals declared by Syria, the OPCW has invited commercial chemical disposal firms to convey to it their expressions of interest (EOI).
  • OPCW awards contracts to two companies for destruction of Syrian chemicals and Effluents
    20 Mar 2014 - 14 February 2014 - Following a rigorous tendering process, the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, announced today that the OPCW has awarded contracts to the following two companies with respect to the Call for Proposals for Transport, Treatment and Disposal of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous Organic and Inorganic Chemicals, Effluents and Related Materials (Reference: CFP# CDB-P14-002):
  • Special Coordinator expresses gratitude to the Government of Cyprus
    20 Mar 2014 - 27 December 2013 -The Special Coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission, Ms. Sigrid A. Kaag met today with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Ioannis Kasoulides and expressed her gratitude for the support that the Government of the Republic of Cyprus continues to provide to the Joint Mission.

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