The Government of the Principality of Monaco has voluntarily contributed €20,000 to two trust funds of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW): EUR 10,000 to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions and EUR 10,000 to the Trust Fund for Training.
The contribution to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions will support OPCW's ongoing efforts to uncover the full extent and scope of Syria's chemical weapons programme and ensure its complete elimination amid the country's evolving political landscape. It will also aid in investigating allegations of chemical weapons use and identifying perpetrators, in line with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), relevant decisions of the OPCW's policy-making organs and United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The contribution to the Trust Fund for Training will support a six-month research fellowship in biotoxin analysis for a scientist from Africa at the OPCW Centre for Chemistry and Technology.
The contributions were formalised on 20 October 2025 in a signing ceremony held between the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Principality of Monaco to the OPCW, H.E. Mr Frédéric Labarrère, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, at the Organisation's Headquarters in The Hague.
Ambassador Labarrère said: " Through these commitments, aimed at supporting the Organisation's missions in Syria as well as its capacity-building activities on the African continent, particularly in the field of biotoxin analysis, the Government of the Principality of Monaco reaffirms its support for the effective and widely recognised work of the OPCW, and reiterates its steadfast attachment to the objectives and principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention, as well as to upholding the international norm prohibiting their use."
Director-General Arias stated: "I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Monaco for its longstanding support to the OPCW's work on the Syrian chemical weapons dossier and in upholding the norms and principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention."
"To continue its work in Syria and carry out its future missions, the Technical Secretariat relies on the continuous financial support from States Parties, such as the contribution from Monaco today," he added.
Background
Monaco has been an active member of the OPCW since the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force in 1997.
Since 2016, Monaco has made voluntary contributions totalling EUR 100,000 including 90,000 to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions.
Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention 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.
