BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION EXPERTS TO MEET IN GENEVA FROM 20 TO 24 AUGUST

The Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) will be held in Geneva from 20 to 24 August 2007. The Meeting of Experts is the first part of a four-year programme mandated by the 2006 Sixth Review Conference of the BWC aimed at strengthening the implementation of the Convention and improving its effectiveness as a practical barrier against the development or use of biological weapons.

The programme builds on the success of a similar work programme held from 2003 to 2005, at which States Parties exchanged experience, expertise and best practices on topics related to national implementation, biosecurity, disease surveillance and response, response to alleged use of biological weapons, and codes of conduct for scientists.

The Meeting takes place amid renewed interest in and activity surrounding the BWC, following the highly successful Sixth Review Conference. As well as commissioning the four-year work programme, the Conference established an Implementation Support Unit for the Convention (to be officially launched on 20 August – see separate release) and agreed on specific actions to improve participation in the treaty's confidence-building measures and to persuade non-members to join the regime. These actions are already producing results, with three States acceding to the BWC so far in 2007, and a record number of States Parties participating in the confidence-building measures.


The 2007 Meeting of Experts will address two specific topics:

· Ways and means to enhance national implementation, including enforcement of national legislation, strengthening of national institutions and coordination among national law enforcement institutions; and

· Regional and sub-regional cooperation on implementation of the Convention.

The results of the Meeting of Experts will form the basis for the work of the Meeting of States Parties (to be held from 10 to 14 December 2007), which will consider options for developing common understandings and effective action on the two topics.

The Meeting of Experts will be chaired by Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, who was also President of the Sixth Review Conference. Participants will include technical experts and officials from police, justice or interior ministries; health and agriculture agencies; international organizations including Interpol and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; regional organizations such as the African Union; academic institutions; and biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry associations.


The Biological Weapons Convention, 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, opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975. The BWC was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons. It currently has 158 States Parties, with a further 16 states having signed but not yet ratified the Convention.

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