The 9th CBW Protection Symposium
Gothenburg, Sweden; 22-25 May, 2007
A Summary
By Lena Norlander and Marianne Olofsson
The meeting at Svenska Mässan in Gothenburg on 22-25 May was once more a success, with around 760 delegates representing 43 nations and with 112 exhibiting companies.
The symposium was one day shorter than the previous one. The days were filled by two parallel sessions, with an introductory plenary speech reviewing the research field in the following sessions. The scientific committee had a hard time in selecting among the proposals for presentations; 77 contributions were orally presented in the parallel sessions. The sessions covered topics such as Crisis Management CBRN, CBRN Terrorism, Detection/Identification (B and C), Developing technologies, as well as Medical Countermeasures, Body Protection and Decontamination. Some 80 posters were presented in the Thursday afternoon poster session.
The opening ceremony was brightened up with traditional Swedish music with a summer theme. Mr Henrik Salander, Deputy Director-General, Head of Department for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs delivered the opening address (available at the symposium website). In his speech he stressed the importance of creating meeting places for scientists of different countries for the purpose of exchanging views, enhancing knowledge and improved transparency of defence and security programmes in the CBW field. Mr Salander called attention to the fact that a number of states have signed, but not ratified, the two conventions banning the development and use of CW and BW. In addition, several states have not even signed the Biological and Toxin Weapon Convention and the Chemical Weapon Convention. Universal adherence must be a priority. Mr Salander also emphasised the risk of non-state actors making use of BW or CW for hostile purposes and the legal framework to prevent terrorist acquisition of these agents.
The opening address was followed by a plenary speech by Mr Gennady Lutay from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW. Mr Lutay is the Head of the Assistance and Protection Branch of the OPCWs International Cooperation and Assistance Division. He notied that April 2007 marked the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the creation of the OPCW. In his speech Mr Lutay gave a briefing of the global situation concerning the on-going destruction of CW stockpiles.
The next speaker in the opening session was Mr Joaquim Nuñes de Almeida from the European Union. Mr Nuñes de Almeida is Head of the EU unit Fight against terrorism, trafficking and exploitation of human beings, and law enforcement cooperation. Mr Nuñes de Almeida presented the European approach to preparedness to bioterrorism. He focused at the need to enhance inter-agency cooperation concerning law enforcement and public health, standards and procedures, the development of a European analytical capacity for reducing risks, the role of research and professional code of conduct.
Dr Karin Hjalmarsson from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, UNMOVIC, gave a review on the experience from UN disarmament and monitoring activities in Iraq. Since 2005 UNMOVIC has worked with the preparation of a compendium of Iraq's proscribed weapons programmes in the chemical, biological and missile area. The compendium contains lessons learned from both the nature of the programmes and the experience gained from verification and monitoring by UN inspectors.
The fourth invited speaker in the opening session was Mr William Puttmann of the NATO WMD Centre in Brussels. He talked about CBRN terrorism and NATO. In the presentation Mr Puttmann described NATO's comprehensive approach to CBRN terrorism and how it includes partnership activities with other nations and international organisations. He also presented the key elements of the approach to CBRN terrorism as well as the assessed nature of the threat.
A new feature of the symposium programme was a panel discussion on national concepts for CBRN protection. The members of the panel presented examples on national approaches and had an informal discussion at the podium, and this was followed by pertinent questions and comments from the audience. According to the active interest and the positive comments, this discussion forum for questions of concern was a welcomed element in the programme.
The Symposium Exhibition of CBW Defence Equipment still is the biggest exposition in the world concerning CBW protection and we are satisfied to find that companies from different parts of the world find it fruitful to participate in the exhibition. In common with previous CBW protection symposia, the majority of exhibitors came from Europe, but we also had companies from the US, Canada and China.
ASA Note: Congratulations to the 9th CBW Protection Symposium Organizing Committee. Again - a super effort.
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