Panelists in the most difficult position of any panel in any event which is standing between resistance and the bar. But there is extraordinary substance on this panel, and the intent is to turn us forwardlooking. I would like to turn over to ambassador john ordway, our partner in kazakhstan. John, it is an honor and a pleasure to have you here as our moderator. Amb. Ordway thank you very much. We are facing the future with an urgent set of problems and to prove they are urgent we are going to have a little time to deal with them. Let me just say i really liked from the beginning what bill perry said about the challenge of this separation of the variables and what we are going to do with this panel is separate those variables and address them separately. I would like to recall what the general said that he is optimistic, and the time to renew the work we have been talking about is not somewhere over the hills. There is it is not over the hills, but i expect there is still a lot of terr
Elinating chemical weapons. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee says the opcw has sought ways to destroy chemical weapons since it was set up in 1997. He notes that the recent use of these arms in syria underscores the importance of the opcws work. The Organizations Mission is to implement the chemical weapons convention. 189 states have signed the convention. It bans the development and possession of chemical weapons and sets out rules for getting rid of them. Opcw experts inspect chemical arms stockpiand related equipment and facilities for their eventual destruction. Theyd carried out more than 5,100 inspections in 86 countries as of the end of july. The inspections in syria are based on a declaration made by the government of president bashar al assad. About 1,000 tons of chemical agents are believed to be stored at more than 20 locations in the country. Experts from the opcw and the u. N. Started their work following a resolution by the u. N. Security council. They face
The regime says it is ready to go. But the opposition was in disarray, both politically and on the ground. Assembling a unified credible delegation is not going to be easy. Bbc news, beirut. Is the latest situation on the ground. As i said earlier, speaking in an exclusive interview with the bbc, the director general of the has expressed concerns about fighting hampering access to some of the site is team needs to visit. Lets just have a listen. We often have access problems because there are roads that change hands from one day or another. That is why we continue to appeal to all sides in syria to support this mission, to be cooperative. And refrain from rendering this mission more difficult. It is already challenging. , we understand which was already abandoned, is in a rebel held area. So, we will see whether we can have access to the site eventually. You had asked for a cease fire earlier. Are you finding the regime are cooperating and the rebels and opposition or not . I ask for a
A conversation with Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu. Political divisions among the membership appears to be the main challenge for the organization. More efforts must be made to uphold the credibility and the integrity of the Chemical Weapons Convention.