First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić today received the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ahmet Üzümcü, who thanked Croatia for its active role in the OPCW and its contribution to meeting the objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
The meeting between Üzümcü and the Croatian National Commission for the Implementation of the CWC, chaired by Assistant Minister Jasna Ognjanovac, discussed the successful cooperation between Croatia and the OPCW and the prospects of its advancement. Chairperson of the Conference of the OPCW States Parties Vesela Mrđen Korać said that the Croatian National Commission could serve as a model for the implementation of the CWC. Üzümcü reported on the process of destroying chemical weapons, notably Syrian ones, as well as the OPCW strategic plans for the coming period.
Üzümcü also visited the Ruđer Bošković Institute, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and RACVIAC – Regional Centre for Security Cooperation.
Croatia was among the first countries to sign the CWC, which has 192 states parties, and founded the National Commission immediately after its coming into force in 1997. It hosted the first international assistance delivery exercise ASSISTEX in 2002 as well as the meeting of national commissions of the East European group in 2013. Croatia had been elected to a two-year membership of the OPCW Executive Council May 2011-May 2013 and again for the May 2014-May 2016 period.