UNITED NATIONS AND KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA WORK TO STRENGTHEN BARRIERS AGAINST BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS

The Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit (ISU) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will jointly host a workshop on the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Riyadh on 20 and 21 October 2009.

The workshop will be held in the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, and will be opened by His Highness Prince Dr. Torki bin Muhammad bin Saud Al-Kabir, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Relations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Participants will include officials and technical experts from a range of government agencies (including ministries of foreign affairs, defence, health, and interior) in Saudi Arabia and the other Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Experts from the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC) based in London will also play a key role in the workshop.

The workshop will discuss the biological weapons threat, especially as it relates to the Gulf region, and examine the risks to human, animal and plant health, food safety and economic stability. It will consider the response of the international community to the biological weapons threat, focusing on the BWC as well as Security Council Resolution 1540. Participants will discuss approaches to effective national implementation of the BWC, including coordination among domestic agencies and participation in the annual confidence-building measures, as well as international cooperation through the BWC intersessional work programme and the Implementation Support Unit, and possible regional initiatives. The workshop will also examine recent scientific and technological developments relevant to the biological weapons threat, and discuss options for effective oversight of science and technology.

The Head of the Implementation Support Unit, Mr. Richard Lennane, welcomed the workshop as an excellent example of a practical regional initiative to combat the threat posed to international security by biological weapons and bioterrorism. "The Government of Saudi Arabia, which has long participated actively in the intersessional work programme of the BWC, is making a valuable practical contribution to strengthening barriers against biological weapons in its region. I am confident that this workshop will serve as a model for similar joint initiatives between the ISU and BWC States Parties in other regions," he said.

The results of the workshop will be reported to the annual BWC Meeting of States Parties to be held in Geneva from 7 to 11 December 2009.

The BWC prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. More formally referred to as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, the treaty opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975. It currently has 163 States Parties, with a further 13 States having signed but not yet ratified. All GCC member states are States Parties to the BWC.

The BWC Implementation Support Unit is based in the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs in Geneva. It was established by the Sixth Review Conference of the BWC in 2006 to support and coordinate the efforts of the BWC States Parties to implement their obligations under the treaty. The ISU is mandated to provide administrative support for BWC meetings; to facilitate communication among States Parties and with relevant organizations; to support national implementation efforts; to act as a clearing-house for offers of and requests for assistance; to administer the BWC confidence-building measures; and to support universalization activities.


For further information, please contact:

Mr. Richard Lennane
Head, BWC Implementation Support Unit
Tel: +41 (0)22 917 22 30
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 04 83
E-mail: rlennane@unog.ch
URL : www.unog.ch/bwc


For use of the information media; not an official record

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