Syria's caretaker Foreign Minister, Mr Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, delivered an in-person statement at the 108th session of the Executive Council at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Headquarters in The Hague.
In his address, Minister al-Shaibani emphasised that: "[…] the new Syrian Government is present here, today, and it is determined to reconstruct the future of the new Syria based on transparency, justice, and cooperation with the international community."
He added: "At this historic juncture, our commitment today at the Executive Council is to destroy any remains of the chemical weapons programme developed under the Assad regime, to put an end to this painful legacy, to bring justice to victims, and to ensure that the compliance with international law is a solid one. Syria is dedicated to this task through a strong commitment and will need the support of the international community, with the OPCW, to achieve it."
The participation in the Executive Council by the Syrian caretaker Foreign Minister builds upon the visit by the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, to Damascus on 8 February 2025. During his visit, the Director-General met with the interim President of Syria, Mr Ahmed al-Sharaa and with caretaker Foreign Minister al-Shaibani, laying the groundwork for renewed collaboration.
Director-General Arias stated: "The OPCW welcomes the visit of the Syrian caretaker Foreign Minister and his participation in the Executive Council. This demonstrates the strong commitment of the new Syrian authorities to cooperate with the OPCW to eradicate all chemical weapons in Syria."
"The evolving political landscape in Syria provides the OPCW and the international community with a new and historic opportunity to complete the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons programme. The OPCW stands ready to support the new Syrian authorities in meeting the Syrian Arab Republic's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. The new Syrian authorities, together with the OPCW Technical Secretariat, have already taken steps towards achieving this goal: a team of technical experts of the Secretariat will be deployed to Damascus in the coming days, after this Executive Council session," Director-General Arias added.
Since the Syrian Arab Republic's accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention in October 2013, the OPCW Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) has been unable to confirm that the declaration submitted by the previous Syrian authorities is accurate and complete. In addition, the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) and Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) documented the use of chemical weapons, and identified the former Syrian Arab Armed Forces as the perpetrator of their use in several instances. This led to the suspension of some of Syria's rights in the OPCW Policy-Making Organs in April 2021.
During his visit to Damascus, Director-General Arias presented the Secretariat's 9-point Action Plan for Syria to the Syrian caretaker authorities. The plan is based on the Technical Secretariat's extensive experience and lays out the next steps in this process: compiling an inventory of sites, equipment, munitions, chemicals, documents, people, and facilities; declaring all elements of the Syrian chemical weapons programme, and have it verifiably eliminated; establish, through reinforced cooperation, long-term compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Background
The Executive Council supervises the activities of the Technical Secretariat and is responsible for promoting the effective implementation of and compliance with the Convention.
The Syrian Arab Republic became a State Party to the CWC - and a Member State of the OPCW - in October 2013. As a result of a joint OPCW-UN mission (October 2013 - September 2014) in cooperation with the former Syrian authorities, all of the chemical weapons declared by Syria were removed and verifiably destroyed. Questions about the accuracy and completeness of Syria's initial declaration have remained.
To ensure Syria's compliance with its obligations under the Convention, there are currently three different OPCW missions with an active mandate to work on chemical weapons related issues: the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT), the OPCW Fact-Finding mission (FFM), and the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT).
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention's entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
In 2023, the OPCW verified that all chemical weapons stockpiles declared by the 193 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997 - totalling 72,304 metric tonnes of chemical agents - have been irreversibly destroyed under the OPCW's strict verification regime.
For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
