Masood named BWC President

GENEVA—Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Masood Khan has been designated as the President of the Sixth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) to be held in December 2006. He has also been nominated to chair the Preparatory Committee of the Review Conference.
The decision was taken by 155 member states of the BWC at the conclusion of their annual meeting which discussed codes of conduct for scientists to promote the peaceful uses of biological sciences and stem their potential misuse for weapons production and proliferation. Ambassador Masood Khan, while accepting the nomination for the Presidency, said that the BWC is part of the triad of non-proliferation and disarmament instruments.
“In view of the new developments,” Ambassador Masood Khan said, “we need to evolve responses that would help us stem proliferation and review measures for an effective implementation of all articles of the treaty”. He assured that the states parties that the Review Conference would have a successful outcome, adding that the process of engagement and decision-making would be intense, fair and just.
Earlier, Ambassador Hsu King Bee of Malaysia, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, presented Ambassador Khan’s nomination citing his expertise and vast experience in multilateral diplomacy, security and disarmament. Australia, on behalf of the Western Group, and Norway, on behalf of the Eastern Group, assured Ambassador Masood Khan of their full support and cooperation to ensure a successful outcome of the Review Conference in 2006.
Ambassador Masood Khan thanked Malaysia, NAM members, three Depositary States (UK, USA and Russian Federation) and other states parties for his nomination and for their expressions of support to him. Earlier, Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, in a message to the BWC conference, ahead of the next year’s review conference, called on States Parties to reaffirm the ban on such weapons and address their possible use by terrorists.
“It is increasingly understood that bolstering the biological security regime has become a matter of tremendous importance for global health and international peace and security,” he said. The BWC holds review conferences every five years. This is the first time that Pakistan becomes the President of a review conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which entered into force thirty years ago.—APP