Chairpersons, Secretary-General, Director General,
Distinguished Colleagues,
Croatia shares the pride of States Parties to the CWC in the Convention's progress as well as the commitment of the CWC community to build on the OPCW achievements of the last decade.
At the end of the anniversary year, we very much welcome the initiative by the Governments of the Netherlands and Poland to convene this meeting.
The meeting gives us an excellent opportunity to highlight, once again, the Convention's contribution to peace and security in the world, and to commend the efforts of the OPCW Secretariat and the staff. Once again, Croatia's heartfelt congratulations to the OPCW Director General, Ambassador Pfirter, whom we had the pleasure of welcoming in Zagreb last spring.
At this particular juncture in international relations, this meeting gives us also - by restoring our trust in the validity of this specific multilateral WMD regime - an excellent opportunity to recommit ourselves to effective multilateralism as the safest way out of a maze of contemporary global security risks.
Croatia has been engaged in accession negotiations with the EU and we have aligned ourselves with the statement made here by the EU Presidency. Still, I would like to offer two brief comments regarding Croatia's specific experience.
First, the beginnings of our relationship with the CWC coincided with the early years of our country's independent life. By the time of the Convention's entry into force Croatia had already had some valuable experience of cooperation with the IAEA and was ready to wholeheartedly embrace the new disarmament convention.
Thus, the CWC implementation in Croatia became a valuable exercise in both development and demonstration of the country's evolving awareness of major global security issues, of our capacity to comply with the complex international obligations and of our growing interest in engaging with others to contribute to peace and stability in the region and in the world.
Consequentially, the process served as an important catalyst which would lead to our present active participation in all formal and informal disarmament and non-proliferation regimes, and in particular in active cooperation in counter-proliferation and counter-terrorism.
This practical commitment to global peace and security has played a significant role in Croatia's decision to put forward our candidature for the membership of the UN Security Council for the period 2008-2009.
Secondly, as we hail the Convention's progress, we also believe that the progress and success of the Organization demonstrate that multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation can work and should be pursued vigorously across the board.
Therefore we should take courage and inspiration from this meeting and redouble our efforts to try to emulate the success of the Convention in other disarmament and non-proliferation matters. By doing so, we would be able to hope that the alarming decline in the global security environment can be halted and reversed.
With these thoughts in mind, I would like to assure you - and through you - the Secretary-General and the OPCW Director General of Croatia's unequivocal commitment to working together with all States Parties and all peace-loving countries to prevent the recurrence of horror and human suffering caused by chemical or any other weapons.
Thank you.
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