OPCW Director General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter received a letter from US President Barack Obama in response to the DG’s letter congratulating the President on his electoral victory. In the letter, President Obama stated he was confident that the US and the OPCW could work closely to ‘build a more secure world.’

Iraq, the most recent nation to accede to the CWC has designated its National Authority for the CWC. The Convention entered into force for Iraq on February 12, 2009.

On February 17, Chinese H. E. Ambassador Zhang Jun addressed the General Debate of EC-55 of the OPCW. In his address he gave a positive evaluation of the OPCW’s work but also voiced concerns over chemical weapons left in China after the Japanese occupation in WWII. Ambassador Zhang, asserted that, ‘the destruction of JACWs [Japanese Abandoned Chemical Weapons] is even more important and urgent since they constantly constitute a real threat to the people.’