The Government of the Republic of Latvia has made a voluntary contribution to support the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) through its Trust Fund for Syria Missions and its Trust Fund for the Implementation of Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The contribution of EUR 10,000 to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions will support the OPCW's ongoing work in the Syrian Arab Republic. An additional EUR 10,000 contribution will support a hospital preparedness training course, aimed at enhancing States Parties' capacities to respond to chemical threats.
The contributions were formalised during a signing ceremony held between the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Latvia to the OPCW, H.E. Ms Solvita Āboltiņa, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, at the OPCW's Headquarters in The Hague.
"The OPCW has a major role to play in strengthening of multilateralism, security and international standards. With this contribution we are showing our continued commitment to upholding the Chemical Weapons Convention. More specifically, we commend the cooperation between the OPCW and the Syrian transitional authorities. We expect that our contribution towards the Trust Fund for Syria will foster efforts to resolve the outstanding issues related to Syria's chemical weapons dossier, removing a concrete threat to international peace and stability," said Ambassador Āboltiņa.
"Our other targeted contribution towards the Trust Fund for the Implementation of Article X underlines the importance we are giving to capacity building, international cooperation, assistance, and response readiness efforts globally," she added.
Director-General Arias stated: "I thank the Government of Latvia for its generous contribution. Voluntary contributions from States Parties are essential for strengthening OPCW's capacity to assist and protect against chemical weapons threats and to support the full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention."
"The OPCW must seize the opportunity to advance a goal that has been stalled for more than a decade: the full elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons programme. The OPCW stands ready to support the new Syrian Authorities in achieving full compliance with the Convention," Director-General Arias emphasised.
Background
Latvia has been an active member of the OPCW since the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force in 1997.
To date, Latvia has contributed a total of EUR 50,000 to OPCW trust funds, with previous donations directed toward the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.
In February 2025, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), accompanied by a high-level delegation from the Technical Secretariat, visited Damascus and met with Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and caretaker Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani. During the visit, Syria, at the highest level, expressed its commitment to achieving full compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and to working towards the full implementation of all its obligations under the treaty.
To ensure Syria's compliance with its obligations under the CWC, the OPCW currently implements three distinct mandates related to Syria's chemical weapons programme. These include verifying the accuracy and completeness of Syria's chemical weapons declaration, establishing the facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals as weapons, and identifying those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the country.
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.
