Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad stated that the politicization of the work of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has led to its distancing from the tasks outlined in the prohibition agreement, posing a threat to its credibility and future.
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Dr. Faisal Mekdad's speech at the high-level segment of the 2021 Conference on Disarmament, where he emphasized that some countries are trying to exploit the disarmament conference platform to settle scores against countries that do not share their views and hostile policies. Mekdad noted that these countries have not only obstructed the return of the conference to its role in recent years but have also worked to undermine the credibility and function of the mechanisms established based on agreements negotiated at the conference.
The Syrian minister revealed that American and Western pressures on the technical secretariat aim to turn the organization into a tool for targeting countries that are parties to the agreement, adding that this serves the geopolitical interests of the United States, the only party in the agreement that continues to possess chemical weapons since World War II to the present.
Mekdad explained that following Western pressures and the imposition of an illegitimate decision to create what is known as the "Investigation and Identification Team" in a manner that contradicts the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the United States and France are seeking to promote new draft resolutions to find pretexts for committing further acts of aggression against Syria and encouraging terrorist organizations to carry out new fabricated chemical plays in service of American and Israeli aggressive policies.
He stressed that Syria will not allow these plays to pass or allow international organizations such as the OPCW to be converted into a facade for Western policies, emphasizing the responsibility of all member states in this organization and in this conference. He indicated that his country places great importance on the Conference on Disarmament, committing to cooperate with the presidencies that respect professionalism, neutrality, and integrity.
The Syrian Foreign Minister underscored that nuclear disarmament is the top priority of the conference, as defined by the first session of the General Assembly dedicated to disarmament. Syria supports achieving this objective within the conference through negotiations on an agreement that guarantees the nondiscriminatory and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons within a specified timeframe, considering the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones to be an important contribution to efforts aimed at achieving a world free from these weapons.
Mekdad confirmed Syria's support for negotiations in the conference on a binding, unconditional global legal instrument that provides effective guarantees against the use of nuclear weapons or the threat of using them against non-nuclear-armed states. He noted that amid growing concerns about outer space becoming a new arena for an arms race, Syria renews its support for the treaty proposed by Russia and China regarding the prevention of the deployment of weapons in outer space and its support for commencing negotiations in the conference on a draft agreement to combat chemical and biological terrorism.
The Syrian Foreign Minister emphasized that Israel's monopoly on weapons of mass destruction in the region and its refusal to join all relevant treaties and agreements pertaining to the prohibition and prevention of the proliferation of such weapons makes it the main source of threat to peace and security in the region.
