Thank you, Mr. President.
And thank you, Mr. Ebo, for the briefing.
Ten years ago, the Syrian Arab Republic acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons. Syria committed to cooperate with the OPCW in the exercise of all its functions. Accordingly, ten years after, Syria should have destroyed its chemical weapons and chemical weapons production facilities.
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Several international reports have found that chemical weapons have been used in Syria since its accession to the Convention. The identified perpetrators should be held accountable.
According to the note of the OPCW Technical Secretariat of 23 September 2023, Syria continues to refuse to fully cooperate with the international community regarding the Program of Chemical Weapons.
There are several gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies in the declarations of the Syrian National Authorities. Twenty out of 24 outstanding issues raised by the Secretariat remain unresolved. The substance of the unresolved outstanding issues involves unverified quantities of chemical weapons, undeclared production of chemical weapons and undeclared chemical weapons including chlorine and sarin, used in chemical attacks.
All these give us serious concerns regarding the potential existence of undeclared stockpiles of chemical weapons, activities, and facilities.
We welcome the 25th round of consultations between the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) and the Syrian National Authority, which took place in Damascus in the beginning of November, as confirmed by the 122nd monthly Report of the Director-General of OPCW.
We remain concerned on the result of analysis of samples collected by the DAT from two sites during the limited in-country activities in April this year. The results revealed the presence of indications of several chemical warfare agents that were not declared at two sites.
We call on Syria to provide all relevant information regarding the chemical weapons and their activities.
We fully support the work of the OPCW, UN agencies and other international organizations in this regard. We believe that the Tripartite Agreement concluded between the OPCW, UNOPS and the Syrian Arab Republic should be further extended.
It is time for Syria to understand that it must fully declare and destroy its chemical weapons program in a transparent and verifiable manner.
It should fully cooperate with the OPCW, in compliance with resolution 2118 (2013).
As this is the last meeting Albania takes the floor on this file, we stress the importance for the Security Council to take responsibility in implementing its resolutions, and in this context, these regular meetings remain a necessity.
By concluding, Mr. President, allow me to express Albania’s appreciation for the way Ecuador has presided over the work of the Security Council during this month of December.
I thank you.
