The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - the body charged with overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons has announced that the US has offered to contribute a destruction technology, full operational support and financing to neutralize Syria's priority chemicals, which are to be removed from the country by December 31.
The director-general Ahmet Uzumcu told the OPCW Executive Council on Friday that the neutralization operations will be conducted on a US vessel at sea using hydrolysis.
Hydrolysis will produce 7.7m litres of effluent, which the OPCW says will be packed in 4,000 containers. This is a far less toxic cargo than many common industrial by-products.
"Currently a suitable naval vessel is undergoing modifications to support the operations and to accommodate verification activities by the OPCW," Uzumcu said.
In an interview to TOI, Michael Luhan, head of public affairs at OPCW said the US offer pertains to destroying the priority chemicals - the most dangerous weapons which make up 55% of Syria's stock pile.
The rest of the 45% includes industrial chemicals for destruction of which 35 private firms had submitted expressions of interest.
The next deadline is December 17 by which time OPCW and Syria will have to create and agree to a concrete plan on how to go about destroying the weapon stockpiles as large as 1,000 metric tonnes.
"America's offer is very welcome and the DG thanked the US for it. The most critical element of a chemical weapon is to carry out its destruction. US has offered not just the technological know-how on ways to destroy them without causing harm to humans on a threat to our environment but has also offered to fund the entire operation. They will also allow OPCW inspectors on board their naval ship to oversee the destruction of the chemical weapons and ensure they are according to national and international laws".
"However, it is an expression of interest from US. The OPCW Executive Council will take the final call on whether to let US carry it out. The decision will be taken after December 17 when the DG will submit a detailed plan for destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal. The big milestone after that will be December 31 by which time the priority chemicals will have to be moved out of Syria".
Mr Luhan told TOI that the remaining 45% of chemicals in Syria are industrial in nature that is officially traded globally.
According to him, it will cost 40 million euros to carry out the destruction of this stockpile. Member States of the OPCW have therefore been asked to consider providing in-kind contributions by contracting companies to conduct destruction activities.
Mr Lohan however refused to comment whether there were any Indian companies that had expressed interest for the operation.
"Regarding the destruction of Syria's inventory of other chemicals, including common industrial ones. OPCW has to date received 35 expressions of interest (EOI) from commercial companies, which will now undergo evaluation. This number may change during the tender process. OPCW is at the preliminary stage of ascertaining the availability of suitable candidate companies".
OPCW said the companies bidding for participation in the disposal process will be required to comply with all applicable international and national regulations pertaining to safety and the environment. With the regard to the special Trust Fund which the OPCW has established for the destruction activities to be done by private companies, the director-general encouraged States Parties to make their contributions.
"Before we can launch any tender process we must be certain that we have sufficient funds available to meet the costs of destruction," the director-general stated.
Mr Lohan added "By February 15, the entire stockpile of chemical weapons will have to be removed from Syria. By June 30, all of them will have to be destroyed."
The International chemical weapons watchdog which was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2013 recently confirmed that its weapons inspectors have sanitized 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites in Syria.
OPCW said recently it was "satisfied" and "has verified and seen destroyed, all declared critical production/mixing/filling equipment from all 23 sites".
US and its allies had threatened to use force against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's forces for carrying out a deadly Sarin attack on innocent civilians on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August. It was the world's deadliest chemical weapons incident since Saddam Hussein's forces used poison gas in Halabja 25 years ago.
A Russian-American-brokered deal then forced Assad to agree to destroy all its chemical weapons.
OPCW, according to the Nobel Peace Institute has already managed to destroy 80% of the world's chemical weapons arsenals. The OPCW has conducted more than 53000 inspections in 86 countries till now. It says 100% of the declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been inventoried and verified.
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