The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stressed its firm position on strengthening international cooperation efforts that seek to disarm weapons of mass destruction and their non-proliferation, its support for the efforts aimed at making the Middle East a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction. The Kingdom also urges States possessing chemical weapons to complete the destruction of their stockpiles of such weapons according to the deadlines of the requirements of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. This came in a speech delivered by Prince Dr. Turki bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Kabeer, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Relations and Chairman of National Commission for Implementation of the Agreements Banning Chemical and Biological weapons, before the 3rd Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which opened yesterday in The Hague, Netherlands. In his address, Prince Dr. Turki bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Kabeer also reiterated the Kingdom's call on the international community, particularly the industrialized nations, to implement all the terms of the agreement especially Article 11 that urges promotion of the transfer of technology, expertise and equipment related to chemical industries from developed countries to developing countries and the removal of barriers before them. As for the latest developments in Syria and the information on the use of chemical weapons in the conflict there, the Prince emphasized the Kingdom's support for the investigation to be conducted by the United Nations in cooperation with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as outlined by the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon.
