VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam will join other nations to fulfill the commitments to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in a bid to build a world free of chemical weapons and for the sake of global peace, security and development.

The Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the OPCW, Ambassador Ha Huy Thong, made the promise at the second special session of the OPCW to review the operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) over the past fives years that convened in The Hague, the Netherlands, from April 7-18.

The diplomat spoke highly of the roles played by the CWC and the OPCW as well as efforts and coordination of member states in disseminating and implementing the convention.

Participants shared the view, saying the CWC has proved as a universal and effective multilateral disarmament instrument and the number of member states has increased to 183 from 151 over the past five years.

The conference was told that some 38 percent of the declared chemical weapons have to date been destroyed and the rest is expected to be phased out by 2012.

Many delegates called for more endeavours in participating countries and increased cooperation amongst the OPCW, international organisations and members to effectively fulfill the convention and prevent chemical weapons from falling into the hands of warring parties and terrorists.

The delegates, who came from more than 120 member nations, observer countries, international and non-governmental organisations, also pushed for the strengthened cooperation in using chemicals for peace and development purposes.

(Source: VNA)