Delivered by: Mr. Mohammad Bastaki, Counsellor

Madam President,

I thank Mr. Adedeji Ebo for his briefing today.

I would also like to reiterate the UAE’s firm position of rejecting and explicitly condemning the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances. Their use constitutes a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention and international law.

Allow me to point out, again, two issues that are relevant to our topic of discussion today:

First, a meaningful dialogue between the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Syria remains essential if we want to see tangible progress on this file. We reiterate the need to work in accordance with the technical nature and principles upon which the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was founded, foremost of which is consensus and non-politicization. In this regard, we note the recent report issued by the fact-finding mission on the Kharbit Massasneh incident.

Second, the threat of chemical terrorism remains an important challenge that requires considerable attention, especially asDa’esh continues to carry out terrorist attacks without hesitation by using any available means or weapons to restore its control in Syria. This is not only a serious threat to the security and stability of Syria, but to the entire region.

In conclusion, the UAE stresses once again the importance of making progress within the Syria chemical weapons file, as well as across all files related to resolving the Syrian crisis.

Thank you, Madam President.