Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), recently met with senior Chinese government officials during an official OPCW visit to China to deliver a lecture of chemical weapons destruction and the threat of chemical weapons use by non-state actors.
Üzümcü’s lecture centered on peace and disarmament of chemical weapons, stating that the legacy of chemical warfare had wreaked devastation that has been felt around the world across generations.
The Director-General then provided an update on OPCW’s destruction of abandoned chemical weapons by China and Japan, assuring each state official that cooperation between the Chinese government, the Japanese government, and the OPCW continues because the safe destruction of chemical weapons is critical to removing risks to people and the environment.
Üzümcü then made an official visit to the Laboratory of Toxicant Analysis at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, an OPCW designated facility.
OPCW serves as the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Entered into force in 1997, the convention represents the most-successful disarmament treaty in history targeting an entire class of weapons.
To date, approximately 95 percent of all chemical weapons stockpiles declares by OPCW’s 192 member states have been destroyed under the organization’s verification.