Regional Meetings of National Authorities

As part of its Global Outreach initiative the United States National Authority Coordinating Staff this year has participated in regional meetings of National Authorities sponsored by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Panama City, Panama; Prague, Czech Republic; Khartoum, Sudan; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; La Paz, Bolivia; Panama City, Panama; Managua, Nicaragua; San Salvador, El Salvador; Singapore; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meetings were aimed at facilitating the exchange of information and experiences in the field of implementation of the CWC, legal aspects of national implementations of the CWC, promoting cooperation among National Authorities, and promoting enhanced awareness of the provisions of the CWC.

United States representatives participating in the meetings provided a briefing to State Party representatives on national implementation measures, entitled Article VII Obligations [P1]. In addition, U.S. participants presented the status of U.S. implementation and offered U.S. assistance pursuant to meeting national implementation obligations.

Romania

On May 17-19, 2004, the United States participated in the Third Regional Meeting of National Authorities of States Parties to the CWC in Eastern Europe, held in Bucharest, Romania. BIS and Romanian representatives jointly introduced an Implementation Assistance Programme [P2] for National Authorities, which seeks to assist States Parties comply with the industry implementation requirements of the CWC. The Romanian-proposed initiative would, in part, assist National Authorities to implement the export/import and declaration requirements of the Convention. BIS representatives also will present a briefing on U.S. implementation of the CWC transfers regime [P3], which will include a hand-out on U.S. experience with the Schedule 3 end-use certificate regime [P4].

d
Senior U.S. and OPCW representatives participated in the Mexico City seminar. l-r: Kevin Farmer (Department of State), Marybeth Kelliher (American Chemistry Council), Ambasssador Eric Javits (U.S. Ambassador to the OPCW), Rogelio Pfirter (Director-General of the OPCW Technical Secretariat) and Kevin Kurland (Bureau of Industry and Security).

Mexico City

On June 11-13, 2003, the United States participated in the First Regional Seminar on the Role of the Chemical and Other Relevant Industries in the Implementation of the CWC in Latin America and the Caribbean. The seminar was facilitated by the OPCW Technical Secretariat and hosted by Mexico. The seminar was a forum for discussing issues relating to the practical implementation of the CWC, and included discussion on implementation of the CWC, and declaration and inspection requirements of the CWC.

The Bureau of Industry and Security presented two briefings on industry implementation, entitled: The Role of Chemical Industry in Implementing the CWC [P5] and Problems and Resolutions in Preparing Industry Declarations [P6].

PRESENTATIONS:

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