November 28 - December 1, 2022
United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
From November 28 to December 1, 2022 PGA's International Peace and Security Program staff accompanied a Delegation comprised of Parliamentarians and Government officials from Somalia, South Sudan, Djibouti and Chad at the 9th Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
List of Participants
- General Hamit Nassour Soye, Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee, MP, Chad
- Hon. Mouhsine Adam, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, MP, Chad
- Hon. Speaker Mohamed Ali Houmed, Speaker of the National Assembly, Djibouti
- Hon. Hassan Omar Mohamed Kamil, MP, Djibouti
- Hon. Minister Abdinur Fidow, State Minister of Defense, Somalia
- Hon. Ahmed Abdi, Secretary of Defense Committee, MP Somalia
- Hon. Alma Yak, MP, South Sudan
- Hon. Stanslaus Jada, MP, South Sudan
- Ambassador Joshua Franco Paul Maya, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Sudan
- Mr. Peter Barcroft, PGA Secretariat
- Mr. Florian Delsert, PGA Secretariat
During the three days in attendance at the 9th BWC Review Conference, the PGA Delegation had the opportunity to attend a number of plenary sessions, side events, as well as participating in several high-level bilateral meetings. The PGA met with a 6-person senior delegation from Kenya which included members of the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) who discussed in detail the Kenyan experience in implementing the BWC and responded to some questions asked by the PGA Delegation.
PGA staff also participated in a side event, “Women Making the World Safe from Biological and Toxin Weapons”, organized by the Permanent Missions to the UN of Australia, Panama, the Philippines, and Sweden, as well as UNIDIR.
The PGA Delegation was also fortunate to have the opportunity, at his request, to meet with Ambassador Leonardo Bencini, Chairperson of the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention. The meeting was informative and provided parliamentary participants with useful information on a number of issues related to becoming States Parties to the BWC. The Delegations of Chad and Djibouti committed to the President of the Convention to take all steps in their capacity to ensure that their respective countries accede to the Convention as soon as possible. The Delegation from South Sudan updated Ambassador Bencini on their projected time frame for completion of the BWC accession process in the coming few months.
