Bangladesh has been elected member of the Executive Council (EC) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the 2016-2018 term.
Bangladesh last served in the Council for the period of 2002-2004, according to a message from The Hague yesterday.
Bangladesh was unanimously elected by States Parties of the Chemical Weapons Convention on December 2 during the 20th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention being held in The Hague, Netherlands from November 30 to December 4.
Bangladesh was among the four States Parties elected to serve in the Council, representing the Asian Group for the 2016-2018 period.
Bangladesh’s election to the OPCW Executive Council is seen as recognition by the international community of the country’s contribution to the world peace as well as its leadership in the multilateral fora, the message reads.
The election also signifies international recognition of Bangladesh’s efforts to attain global disarmament and stem proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, it said.
Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to OPCW, Sheikh Mohammed Belal was also elected unanimously as Chair of the Committee of the Whole (2014) and Chair of the Credential Committee (2015).
The OPCW, which won Nobel Prize for Peace in 2013, is a globally acclaimed international organisation dedicated to implement 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destructionon (CWC) with 192 States as its members.
The Executive Council of the OPCW is made up of 41 members.
