Lima, April 22, 2005.- The Andean Community General Secretariat (CAN) and the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) today, in Cartagena, Colombia, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they commit themselves to cooperate reciprocally on the implementation of the Chemical Arms Convention in each of the Andean countries.

The aim of the Chemical Arms Convention is to prohibit the positioning, manufacture, storage, transport and use of chemical weapons. The Memorandum of Understanding that has been signed seeks, furthermore, to consolidate the Andean Peace Zone as chemical weapon-free area in compliance with the Common Security Policy and the Presidential Mandates emanating from the Quito Summit.

The two organizations, through this agreement, committed themselves to collaborate closely on matters of common interest, including the execution of joint projects in any of the specific areas, particularly those connected with advisory assistance and training in order to boost the effective implementation of the Chemical Arms Convention.

They further agreed to promote the participation of the Andean countries in the activities of the Regional Assistance and Protection Network on Chemical Weapons, established in November 2004; and of the Network of Legal Experts of Latin America and the Caribbean, created in 2000 to assist and advise the region’s states on the preparation of national legislation for application of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The two organizations also agreed to a continuous exchange of information and experiences through seminars and workshops and to hold regular consultations on matters connected with the Memorandum of Understanding.

The Memorandum of Understanding, signed during the Sixth Regional Meeting of Latin American and Caribbean national authorities on the subject, bears the signatures of Ambassador Allan Wagner, Andean Community Secretary General, and Rogelio Pfirter, Director General of the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.