The European Union and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have signed a cooperation agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), according to the official website of the EU.
Vice-President Josep Borrell recalled that the OPCW was created to “put an end to and eliminate chemical weapons once and for all.”
With the signature of this new agreement, we are increasing our cooperation with the OPCW to safeguard and implement the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The objective is clear: a world free from chemical weapons for the sake of all mankind.
The Director General of the OPCW, Fernando Arias, expressed sincere appreciation to the European Union for its continued financial and political support, emphasising the collective determination to eliminate chemical weapons and prevent their re-emergence for the sake of “ridding the world of chemical weapons and advancing peace and global security”.
The EU and the OPCW will reinforce their coordination, strategic co-operation and exchange of views and information for the fulfilment of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) on the post-chemical weapons destruction phase through a new agreement.
It came into force after being signed by the High Representative for the Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the Director-General of the OPCW, Fernando Arias, in Brussels and The Hague respectively.
The Memorandum of Understanding is not legally binding and does not entail any financial obligations. For its part, the CWC is the world’s most successful disarmament treaty, which eliminated an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. In July 2023, the OPCW confirmed the elimination of the world’s last declared stockpiles of chemical weapons.
