Cuba Elected Vice-Chair of Conference on Biological Weapons

Havana, Nov 28 (ACN) Cuba was elected vice-chair of the Ninth Review Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, (https://bit.ly/3XIGry8) representing the Non-Aligned Movement.

The event opened Monday, November 28 in Geneva and will run till December 16, according to the Cuban Foreign Minister.

The Cuban delegation is led by Rodolfo Benitez, general director for Multilateral Affairs and International Law with the Cuban Foreign Ministry and includes Cuban ambassador to Geneva Juan Antonio Quintanilla, and other Cuban officials.

Cuba’s priorities at the forum includes its denunciation of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade, which flagrantly violates the Convention on International Assistance and Cooperation.

The island will also promote the adoption of a legally binding protocol that strengthens the convention in an integral manner, and which includes indications for its verification.

Cuba supports the total prohibition and elimination of all weapons of mass destruction and is a party state with the Convention on the Biological Weapons since 1976.

The Review Conference is the most important meeting related to the Convention on Biological Weapons. It is held every five years to evaluate the parties’ honoring of the Convention. At present this instrument counts on 184 member nations.