Ban welcomes Iraq's deposit of instrument to CWC accession

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 14 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon late Tuesday congratulated Iraq for depositing earlier in the day its instrument of accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and considered this step as a "demonstration of Baghdad's commitment to disarmament and non-proliferation," his press office said in a statement.

Iraqi UN envoy Hamid Al-Bayati said in a statement distributed here following the event that the Iraqi Government would like to express its "goodwill and continued determination to remove the remnants and effects of the former regime and to work towards the stability of the Middle East."

The UN Secretary-General is the Depositary of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.

The Convention will enter into force for Iraq 30 days after the deposit of its instrument of accession, bringing the total number of States Parties to 186.

The CWC is the first multilateral treaty to ban-with international verification-an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is the implementing body for the Convention.

"The Secretary-General firmly believes that reaching universality of the Chemical Weapons Convention will significantly promote international peace and security and urges the remaining States not party to take the necessary measures to accede to the Convention as early as possible," the statement said.

Iraq's accession, Al-Bayati said, is in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution that stipulates Iraq's obligation to respect conventions relevant to non-proliferation and banning development of nuclear and chemical weapons.

"This event reflects the Iraqi government's will to cooperate with the international community in the field of disarmament, and the government's determination to participate in maintaining international peace and security," Al-Bayati said in his statement.

It is also a step, he added, towards the implementation of international obligations under Security Council resolutions that call for member states to join all International Conventions that prohibit the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including resolutions 1373 of 2001 and Resolution 1762 of 2007 which called on Iraq to make progress in abiding by all disarmament and non-proliferation conventions, especially the CWC.

Copyright Kuwait News Agency 2009.