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U.S., Russia Plans to Destroy Chemical Arms Imperiled by Crisis http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aghJzZXxi_FQ Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. and Russian commitments to dismantle stockpiles of chemical weapons, which will cost taxpayers more than $20 billion, are challenged by the global economic slowdown, a top United Nations official said. “The financial crisis certainly doesn’t help,” Rogelio Pfirter, head of the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said today at a media briefing in Vienna. “The dismantlement challenge is enormous.” The U.S. and Russia, which together own more than 90 percent of the world’s chemical weapons, have until April 2012 to destroy the munitions under the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty. The U.S. cost is in the “tens of billions” of dollars while Russia’s expense is “several billion,” according to The Hague- based OPCW. “There is evidence that both Russia and the U.S. are strongly committed to the convention,” said Pfirter, 60, an Argentine diplomat. “It’s a very tall order and I remain hopeful that they’ll do the best to destroy the material before the deadline.” The world’s six declared chemical-weapons countries have destroyed 43 percent of their 70,000 metric tons of munitions since 1997, the year the treaty came into force, according to the OPCW. The U.S. and Russia, which built 97 percent of the world’s chemical weapons, have respectively eliminated 58 percent and 30 percent of their stockpiles. The other chemical-weapons states to have signed the treaty are India, Libya, South Korea and Albania. Countries that haven’t signed the treaty include Egypt, Israel, Syria and North Korea. ‘Environmental Challenges’ Destruction costs are high because of the thoroughness with which facilities are decommissioned as well as legal costs, Pfirter said. “You don’t only destroy the chemical, you destroy the metal parts where the chemical was contained and you need to raze the facilities so that nothing which has been in touch with a chemical remains standing,” he said. “The reason that the destruction became so expensive is because it creates all sorts of environmental concerns and challenges.” Pfirter, who formerly worked on nuclear inspection agreements for the Argentine government, is a candidate to succeed International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei next year, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association. Dismantling chemical weapons in the U.S. is one of five programs that account for about half of total cost growth in weapons spending, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Service Committee last month. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-thread?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
