The last weekend in November is traditionally the time when National Authorities from around the world meet in The Hague to discuss the topics of the day, share experiences and compare challenges. This year will be no different when we all get together on 25 to 27 November.

Each year we try to have a theme for the meeting and in 2011 we will be breaking the meeting into a series of break out groups addressing the following issues:

(a)                preparing and submitting declarations under Article VI of the Convention as well as the transfers regime under the Convention;

(b)               Management of inspections under Article VI of the Convention

(c)                drafting and enacting national implementing legislation;

(d)               assistance and protection under Article X of the Convention

(e)                Chemical safety management

We hope that you will be joining us at the National Authorities day and that you will come prepared to make a substantive contribution to at least one or more of the break out groups. It is your participation that makes these discussion valuable and enriches the experience of every one attending.

see you in November …………

From 27 to 29 September 2011 the Member States of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean (GRULAC)  countries met for a Regional Meeting of National Authorities in Buenos Aires Argentina.

The National Authority of Argentina and the Technical Secretariat co- hosted the meeting which took place at the historical Palace San Martin in Central Buenos Aires. Attended by 27 States from the Region the meeting took place over 3 days and explored a wide range of legal, declarations and inspections related issues. Of specific interest to participants was a session which considered suggestions as to how the issue of Article VII implementation of the Convention might be considered in the future. A number of very useful observations and suggestions were made and these will be seriously considered when States Parties meet again later in the year.

The meeting was also an opportunity for States from the region to explore and share experiences in the implementation of the Convention and a number of very insightful presentations were made on the different approaches taken to national implementation. My thanks go to those who made the presentations and who were willing to discuss the trials and tribulations as well as the successes of their work.

The Argentine National Authority did a tremendous job of hosting the meeting and I am sure that everyone who attended will once again join me in thanking Gustavo, Maria and the other colleagues from the Foreign ministry for their tremendous work and effort in making the meeting a success.

Of course no meeting would be complete without the obligatory team foto ….

On 21 and 22 June 2011 the OPCW and the Caricom Secretariat hosted a meeting of the Caricom States in Nassau Bahamas, which had kindly agreed to host the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the relationship with the implementation of UNSCR 1540.

The meeting got off to a particularly auspicious start with a opening and welcome hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas.The Royal Bahamas Police Force band was a particularly interesting and welcome addition to the opening event. I cannot think of another event where we have all been welcomed in such style.

With the formalities of the welcome behind us the group got down to the business of discussing the implementation of the CWC in the Region, and I have to say that I was most heartened by the frank and open discussion engaged in by all of the participants. I believe there was a recognition that States Parties in the region all face challenges and that the three common challenges facing States in the Region relate to passing of the necessary implementing legislation, involving the necessary stakeholders (especially customs) in the work of the National Authorities and maintaining the stability of National Authority personnel structures so as to benefit from the experience gained over time.

One of the many positive suggestions made during the course of the meeting was that States Parties from the region share the text of their legislation with others, so that each can benefit from the experience and knowledge of the other. I would very much like to hear from those States in the Region who are prepare to share their drafts, so that we can obtain the latest texts and place them on the site for others to access. If your National Authority is willing to share its draft legislation as part of this exercise do let me know.

I would like to use this opportunity to record the thanks of myself and my colleagues Malik Ellahi and Daniel Cardozo for the outstanding assistance we received from the National Authority of the Bahamas, particularly Marilyn Zonnicle and the members of her team. I am sure I speak for all when I say well done and thank you.

Also to O’niel Hamilton from the Caricom Secretariat who facilitated this meeting, our sincere thanks for the hard work that made this successful engagement possible.

And of course to you the participants, your focus and engagement of the issues was the most important and valuable aspect of this meeting. I think each of you identified for yourselves the way forward to making progress on the implementation of the CWC in your countries. If there is additional assistance or advice that you require please do not hesitate to let me know what your needs are, either by leaving a comment here or by writing to me directly at mark.albon@opcw.org.

In May IPB has once again been busy with the conduct of two Technical Assistance Visits. One to The Gambia and the other to Sierra Leone. Also in May we held the Tenth Annual Meeting of National Authorities in Tallinn, Estonia.

The TAV’s in The Gambia and Sierra Leone were both focussed on the critical issue of getting national implementing legislation in both the countries ready for adoption by their respective Parliaments.

In The Gambia a very useful meeting was held with the National Authority and many of its stakeholders and positive progress was made towards finalising the draft and for preparing it to be submitted to Parliament for adoption. The two day meeting gave all the stakeholders an opportunity to explore in detail the requirements of the Convention and to understand the important role each stakeholder plays in ensuring the success of the work of the National Authority and the important role that The Gambia plays as a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In Sierra Leone the Technical Secretariat once again engaged with the National Authority to put the final touches to their national implementing legislation. The meeting was conducted in a very positive spirit and we are greatly encouraged by the progress that was made. The legislation is due to be submitted to Cabinet in the coming weeks and we are hopeful that Sierra Leone will join the ranks of those States Parties with legislation covering all key areas in the too distant future.

The success of the meetings in Sierra Leone and The Gambia was in large measure due to the willingness of the National Authority personnel to do the necessary hard work to see the requirements of the Convention met. From our perspective, we cannot make these meetings successful without the hard work of our friends and colleagues and I would especially like to thank Harry Sambou the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defense in The Gambia and Mohammed Alhusine Sesay. the Director of the International Organisations Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sierra Leone for their efforts to support our work.

Turning now to the Tenth Annual Meeting of National Authorities in Eastern Europe. This year we were hosted by the Estonian National Authority in their historical Capitol city of Tallinn.

The meeting was opened by the Director General and as usual the focus of the early part of the programme was on updating NA representatives on the current status of the Convention, industry issues and declarations.

The second day of the meeting focussed on the thematic element of the meeting which was the role of the National Authority in managing Article VI industrial inspections. The programme included a number of presentations by the Secretariat as well as by NA representatives on the various aspects of the process. We also held a number of practical exercises which seemd to stimulate some interesting, and at times, spirited discussion.

The third day was devoted to an on-site exercise at a declared facility outside Tallinn where participants had the opportunity to experience some of the aspects of inspection escorting up close.

Of course a key part of the National Authorities meeting is the opportunity for representatives to engage on an informal basis. As always our friends in the Eastern European group took this aspect of our meeting very seriously and rarely have the taverns of Tallinn heard so much impassioned discussion about inspection mandates, managed access and the vagaries of the pre-inspection briefing and the preliminary findings report.

I must add that the arrangements for the meeting were absolutely superb. We were well received, well accommodated and very well looked after. I am sure I speak for all the participants when I say that Mariliis and her colleagues did an absolutely outstanding job. Thank you.