Monday, February 17, 2014

EU to support the destruction of Syrian chemical stockpiles. -Announced today financial support of €12 million

The European Union announced today financial support of €12 million to help destroy Syrian chemical stockpiles, by contributing to a Trust Fund established by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), recipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. The contribution was pledged by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton in December last year and become today a reality with the signing of the contract by EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs.

The use of chemical weapons in Syria in August 2013 was firmly condemned by the international community and a number of initiatives including the creation of such a Trust Fund were set out to respond to the challenge of destroying the chemical stockpiles, which started by the end of September last year.
The activities covered by this programme include the transport, treatment and disposal of the chemical materials and effluents outside Syria, and will be implemented jointly by the OPCW and the United Nations, in order to secure their safe and environmentally sound destruction.
Commissioner Piebalgs said: "This is an unprecedented programme in terms of scale and timing in the history of chemical weapons destruction. The European Commission is looking forward to a fruitful cooperation with the OPCW and the UN on this matter and hoping that the destruction of chemical weapons will be a step closer to bringing an end to the conflict in Syria."

  • High Representative Catherine Ashton said: “I welcome the significant effort made by all concerned to ensure that the pledge made to the OPCW in December has been fulfilled. This is an important step, which complements the Geneva peace negotiations, since the OPCW track helps to build much-needed confidence. Our support for the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons demonstrates the EU's commitment to ensuring that these terrible weapons are not used again and to finding a peaceful and durable solution for the crisis in that country.”

Besides the funds announced today, the EU has also provided other technical and logistical support (e.g. providing armoured cars) totalling approximately 4.5 million euros. In addition, from 2004 until now the EU had provided general support to the OPCW of €9.4 million; bringing the total EU contribution to the OPCW to almost €26 million.
The estimated cost by the OPCW for this part of the programme is €25-30 million. 

Background..........http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-151_en.htm?locale=en
17/12/14
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  • OPCW receives EU grant to destroy Syria arms

The European Union gave around $16. million (12 million euros) to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on Monday to assist in the financing of destroying Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.
The funds had been pledged to OPCW in December by EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton to help cover the $35-million to 40-million cost of dismantling Syria’s chemical materials, Agence France-Presse reported.
Last week, the bloc’s foreign policy ministers agreed to use Syrian funds frozen under the bloc’s sanctions to help pay for the dismantling of Damascus’s chemical weapons program - a move that has angered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The EU said the frozen funds of the Central Bank of Syria and of Syrian state-owned entities would be released “in order to make payments on behalf of the Syrian Arab Republic” to the OPCW “for activities related to the OPCW verification mission and the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons.”................http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/02/17/EU-gives-16-5mn-to-OPCW-to-destroy-Syria-arms.html

17/2/14
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