Pakistan elected as chair of CWC’s Conference of States Parties

Celina Ali

Islamabad: Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Suljuk Mustansar Tarar has been elected as chairperson of the 28th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. The position will be for a period of one year.

The position of chair is rotated among the five regional groups in the CSP and candidature of Ambassador Suljuk Mustansar Tarar had been proposed to the 193-member conference by the Asia Group. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and stockpiling of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction (CWC) – with 193 States Parties – is a comprehensive disarmament treaty, eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction. The Conference of States Parties comprises all states parties to the CWC and is the principal organ overseeing the implementation of the Convention. It is a matter of great honour for Pakistan to have been elected to this prestigious position and reflects the confidence of states parties in Pakistan’s diplomacy and commitment to the CWC. This is the first time that Pakistan has been elected as the Chair of the Hague-based Conference of States Parties of the Chemical Weapons Convention.