Pakistan re-elected to OPCW’s executive council

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been re-elected to the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the term 2022–2024, the Foreign Office said on Saturday.

According to the press release, the elections were held during the recently concluded 26th session of the Conference of States Parties held in The Hague from 29 November to 2 December, 2021.

"The re-election of Pakistan to the 41-member Executive Council of the OPCW is a testament to Pakistan’s positive role in the OPCW," it stated.

The statement said, "The re-election reaffirms the confidence of the Member States in Pakistan’s ability to provide effective leadership and impetus to the work of the OPCW."

Pakistan has been an active member of the OPCW and has served on the Executive Council since its ratification of the CWC in 1997.

"Pakistan has been contributing constructively towards the fulfilment of the objectives of the CWC and regularly hosts OPCW routine inspections at its relevant facilities," it stated.

According to the Foreign Office, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and Their Destruction (CWC), which has 193 States Parties, is the most successful disarmament treaty, having eliminated an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.

"The Executive Council is the principal policy-making organ of the OPCW, which is responsible for supervising the effective implementation of and compliance with the Convention. It also supports the scientific and economic development of its Member States in the peaceful uses of chemistry."