Saudi Arabia elected chair of chemical weapons watchdog executive council until 2023

Saudi ambassador to The Netherlands says the kingdom will work with the world to prohibit weapons of mass destruction

A meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Saudi Arabia was elected president of the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Wednesday. The presidency runs until 2023.

The kingdom is one of the founding countries of OPCW, which was established in 1997 in the Netherlands. The executive council will be chaired by Ziyad bin Maashi Al Attiyah, Saudi ambassador to The Netherlands and its permanent representative to the OPCW.

The council is the executive body of the OPCW and works to "promote effective implementation and compliance with the convention", state media reported. It also supervises the activities of the technical secretariat of the organisation and considers the draft budget, draft report, and the special reports it submits to the Conference of States Parties to the Convention, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The kingdom's role as the chair of the executive council of the OPCW "comes in light of the continuous achievements ... in international organisations, and also reflects its pivotal role and unremitting efforts in dealing with transparency and credibility with the data of international events in this field, and the extent to which the member states of the council and the organisation appreciate this role".

Mr Al Attiyah said that the kingdom aims to work with the world to prohibit weapons of mass destruction and ensure world peace and security.

OPCW has 41 member states and oversees the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.