VERIFIN's international training activities are strongly focused on efforts to enhance the capabilities of laboratories in developing countries in chemical warfare agent (CWA) analysis.
One of the goals is to increase the number of designated laboratories of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
In 2020, bilateral proficiency test training was initiated with VERIFIN and the Medved Research Centre for Preventive Toxicology, Food and Chemical Safety (Ministry of Health, Ukraine). The overall aim of the training is to increase the capabilities of the Medved laboratory to analyze environmental and biomedical samples and report the results per the OPCW reporting criteria.
"The Fellowship Programme is designed to implement Article XI of the Chemical Weapons Convention and will take place over the course of three to six months. Article XI promotes the fullest possible exchange of scientific and technical information between Member States for the development and application of chemistry for industrial, agricultural, research, medical, pharmaceutical, and other peaceful purposes."
The Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN) hosts two OPCW research fellows annually. In the past, VERIFIN has hosted scientists from countries such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Panama, Serbia, and Uganda.
One of the scientists participating in the training programme since the beginning is Mr. Pavel Aleynov, who we have been happy to welcome as an OPCW research fellow at VERIFIN since early January 2022.
This article was originally published at Kemiauutiset/Chemistynews 2023 in May 2023.
