CSTO countries expressconcern about threatof chemical terrorism

MOSCOW (TASS): The member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization expressed their concern about the threat of chemical terrorism and also declared their commitment to a world free of chemical weapons. This is stated in a joint statement of the CSTO member countries, the text of which was published on Friday on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“The member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, as responsible states parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (hereinafter referred to as the Convention), express deep concern over the threats of chemical terrorism and firmly declare its commitment to a world free of chemical weapons,” the Russian diplomatic mission said in a statement.
The document emphasized that “the development, production, acquisition, possession, stockpiling, retention and use of chemical weapons by terrorist organizations is a threat to the purposes and principles of the Convention and should be the subject of close attention by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)”.
According to the statement, the CSTO member countries are in favor of “expanding cooperation to prevent foreign terrorist fighters with specialized knowledge in the development, production and use of chemical weapons from entering the states parties to the Convention, including by increasing the effectiveness of interaction between the states parties to the Convention.” “In this regard, [countries] emphasize the importance of the activities of the OPCW open-ended working group on terrorism, which seems to be a convenient platform for the exchange of conceptual considerations on countering chemical terrorism, as well as information on related threats,” the document says.
In addition, the CSTO member countries renew their request to the Director General of the OPCW “to inform on a regular basis about the efforts of the OPCW Technical Secretariat to establish a dialogue with other international organizations, primarily the UN, as well as about the information received by the OPCW Technical Secretariat from States Parties and from other reliable sources on the activities of terrorist groups related to the acquisition, production, movement and impending use of chemical weapons and on the actions taken by them in this regard.
“Being principled and consistent supporters of the adoption of effective collective measures aimed at actively countering the proliferation of WMD, their components and delivery vehicles, we confirm the continuing relevance of the Russian-Chinese initiative to develop a Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Chemical and Biological Terrorism, which is designed to become an important additional tool in creating a reliable barrier to the terrorist threat,” the statement concludes.