Meeting on Chemical Weapons Convention in Colombo

Chamikara Weerasinghe

The Regional Summit of the National Authorities and Parliamentarians in Asia on the National Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention will be held in Sri Lanka this year with the participation of 30 countries in the region.

The authorities are due to meet at the Colombo Hilton for the summit on August 25 and 26, Government sources said.

The Secretary of the Industrial Development Ministry R.V.D.Piyatilleke said that Sri Lanka had been picked for the summit upon considering its commitment and the role it has played towards the prevention and prohibition of chemical weapons and their use.

He said the summit will establish full-fledged protection to the world from weapons of mass destruction. The Chemical Weapons Convention was adopted in 1992 by the UN General Assembly in its resolution entitled Convention on the Development, Production Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.

The Regional Meeting in Colombo on the Convention will review the progress of the Asian countries for the period of 2007-2008 .

The National Authorities and the Parliamentarians of the Region are also to negotiate how they can formulate a system for the Asian Region to cope with the Chemical Weapons Convention for the following year.