Morocco has been elected to the presidency of the Executive Board of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), for a one-year term, from May 12 to May 11, 2022.
Morocco’s election in the person of Abdelouahab Bellouki, ambassador to The Hague and its permanent representative to the OPCW, comes “following the unanimous support given by the Group of African States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention to the Moroccan candidacy,” the embassy in the Netherlands said in a statement.
“The Moroccan presidency of this important decision-making body confirms Morocco’s continued commitment to the objectives of this convention and its sustained cooperation with the OPCW, as evidenced by the organisation in Morocco of several conferences, as well as multiple regional training courses aimed at strengthening the capacities of representatives of African countries. As a result, the OPCW ranks Morocco among the top 10 of its partners,” the statement said.
Morocco had held the presidency of the Conference of States Parties, the supreme body of the OPCW, in 2017-2018, the vice-presidency of the Executive Board on behalf of the African Group from 2020 to 2021, and the presidency of the Group of African States members of the OPCW from 2017 to 2018.
The OPCW is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention and has 193 member states.
It also oversees the international community’s efforts to permanently eliminate chemical weapons.
HA/lb/as/APA