Romania to serve 2-year term in OPCW Executive Council

Romania is elected to serve a two-year term in the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), over May 1, 2010 and May 1, 2012, Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) release informs.

OPCW, the International Organization based in the Hague, the Netherlands, ensures the implementation, by its member states, of the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) regarding the prohibition of the chemical weapons, and it is the first international legal document aimed at eliminating an entire category of weapons of mass destruction by prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons by the States Parties.

Romania was actively participating in the negotiations of the Convention, and signed it on Jan 13, 1993, being one of the 65 founder countries. The CWC came into force on April 29, 1997 and it currently numbers 188 states parties.

The Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has specific tasks such as the international verification of the implementation of the Convention's provisions, is comprised of the representatives of 41 Member States, who are elected by all other OPCW Member States to serve two-year terms.

AGERPRES