The Government of the Italian Republic has voluntarily contributed €385,000 to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The voluntary contribution was formalised on 12 December 2025 in a signing ceremony held between the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Italian Republic to the OPCW, H.E. Mr Augusto Massari, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, at the Organisation's Headquarters in The Hague.
Ambassador Massari stated: "Italy has consistently supported the OPCW's work in Syria. This contribution underscores our commitment to strengthening the OPCW's capacity to carry out technical activities on the ground. It will support the Syrian Arab Republic in achieving full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and help safeguard the integrity of the global chemical disarmament and non-proliferation regime."
The Director-General stated: "I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Italy for its strong support of the OPCW's work on the Syrian chemical weapons dossier and for its steadfast commitment to upholding the norms and principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention."
"The tasks to bring the Syrian chemical weapons dossier to an early end are considerable. They concern the destruction of chemical weapons and the risk of proliferation, which are at the core of the Convention. These endeavours demand collective efforts that go beyond the Secretariat's and the Syrian Arab Republic's resources. Italy's contribution will be essential in supporting the ongoing efforts, and I invite other States Parties also provide necessary assistance," he added.
Italy's contribution will support the project aimed at advancing stabilisation efforts and enhancing security in Syria and in the region, by assisting ongoing work to identify and eliminate remnants of the former Syrian government's chemical weapons programme and to prevent the re-emergence or proliferation of chemical weapons.
Background
Italy has been an active member of the OPCW since 1997 and is currently represented in the Executive Council. In Subsidiary Organs, Italy is represented on the Scientific Advisory Board.
To date, Italy has contributed a total of approximately EUR 3.8 million to several trust funds, including the Trust Fund for the Implementation of Article X (in 2025), the Trust Fund for a Centre for Chemistry and Technology (in 2019 and 2022), and the Syria Trust Fund for the Destruction of Chemical Weapons (in 2013 and 2014).
Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013 under a stringent verification regime. While Syria submitted an initial declaration of its chemical weapons (CW) programme, the former Syrian government did not declare all its CW programme and attempted - unsuccessfully - to mislead the international community about the overall scope and scale of the Syrian chemical weapons programme. Furthermore, the Technical Secretariat documented and independently confirmed chemical weapons use in Syria both by the former Syrian military forces and by non-state actors, specifically ISIS/ISIL.
The fall of the Assad government in December 2024 created an opportunity to uncover the full scope of Syria's chemical weapons programme and to eliminate it in line with the CWC. In February 2025, the OPCW Director-General visited Syria and held separate meetings with the Syrian President and Foreign Minister. They expressed Syria's recognition of all OPCW mandates, including the identification of perpetrators of chemical weapons use in Syria and reaffirmed Syria's full commitment to fulfilling its obligations under the CWC. In March 2025, the Syrian Foreign Minister visited the OPCW and addressed the Executive Council, where he renewed Syria's commitment to the Convention.
Since the visit by the Director-General to Damascus in February 2025, the OPCW Technical Secretariat deployed several times to Syria, involving visits to suspected locations, sampling, interviews, collection of documents related to Syria's chemical weapons programme, and coordination.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention's entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
In 2023, the OPCW verified that all chemical weapons stockpiles declared by the 193 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997 - totalling 72,304 metric tonnes of chemical agents - have been irreversibly destroyed under the OPCW's strict verification regime.
For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
