QNA/Doha

HE the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Major General Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah, yesterday inaugurated Qatar’s regional training centre for the prohibition of weapons.
The centre, the first of its kind in the Middle East region and Asia, was inaugurated in collaboration with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) during a seminar on Chemical Weapons convention and Chemical-Safety Management for the member-states of the OPCW in the Asian region that kicked off yesterday.   
Head of the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons, Air Commodore Nasser Mohamed al-Ali, said in his inaugural address before the seminar that this year the event  includes Asian countries. Last year the seminar was limited to Middle Eastern countries.  
He stressed that Qatar’s keenness to achieve international peace and security prompted it to join various agreements curbing the use of chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. Qatar has signed the chemical weapon convention back in 1993 that outlaws the use, production, and stockpiling of chemical weapons and then ratified it in 1997, the year it was put into force.
Qatar then established the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons in accordance with the agreement’s requirements, he said. The committee was established to become the national body responsible for the implementation of the pact and to act as a national centre that facilitates communication between the organisation and the state parties.
Air Commodore al-Ali said the seminar tackled safety and security management issues related to chemical processes and the safety and security management of practices in the region.
He said Qatar has always been keen on regional and international co-operation with the OPCW, since it signed the agreement.  
Talking of the regional co-operation, al-Ali noted that Qatar has hosted a total of 10 OPCW events so far. Each of them tackled a number of key topics of the agreement in addition to technical topics related to transportation systems, Air Commodore al-Ali said adding that factories in Qatar also hosted four interns under the joint (Associate Programme) with the OPCW.
Domestically, Qatar has organised several workshops aimed at introducing the articles of the agreement. Those workshops included industry sector, education sector, and customs sector. The workshops will extend to reach private sector and chemical industry sector in the future, he told the attendees.   
Air Commodore al-Ali expressed thanks to the state parties of the OPCW for choosing Qatar a member to the executive council of the organisation till year 2014.
Qatar now became a regional centre that backs the 1993 chemical weapon convention.
Earlier in the day in a speech during the seminar, the director-general of the OPCW, Ahmed Uzumcu praised Qatar’s pursuit of peace. He said Qatar was the most devoted country at the OPCW and a key partner at the 1993 chemical weapon convention.