Syria becomes full member of OPCW

Syria has become a full member of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Syrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari said on Thursday, September 12. He said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had signed the relevant decree. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also confirmed that Damascus had officially submitted documents regarding its accession to the OPCW. “Damascus officially submitted such documents to appropriate organisations,” Lavrov said in his opening remarks ahead of his talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva. “We should think, together with experts, how to act further so that to prevent the process from becoming protracted,” Kerry said. The Sky News TV channel reported that the U.N. had received the Syrian documents concerning its accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention.