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Treaty Issues in Depth
2009 BWC Meeting of Experts

From August 24-28, 2009, a Meeting of Experts for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was held in Geneva, marking the start of the third segment of the four-year intersessional work program agreed upon by States Parties at the Sixth BWC Review Conference in 2006. The topic of focus for the 2009 segment is capacity building in disease surveillance, and the theme for the Meeting of Experts was Information for Action.

According to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), the objective of the 2009 meetings is to discuss and promote common understanding and effective action on promoting capacity building in the fields of disease surveillance, detection, diagnosis, and containment of infectious diseases, with a view to enhancing international cooperation, assistance, and exchange in biological sciences and technology for peaceful purposes. Specifically, goals are to identify requirements and requests for capacity enhancement for States Parties in need of assistance, as well as opportunities for providing assistance towards these ends for States Parties in a position to do so.

The Meeting of Experts was chaired by Ambassador Marius Grinius of Canada. Introductory statements and presentations were given by representatives from States Parties and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) present. During the closing session, Ambassador Grinius gave an interim report on the progress of universalization of the BWC in addition to his closing remarks. Official documents and statements from the Meeting of Experts can be found online at the UNOG website http://www.unog.ch.

The proceedings of the 2009 Meeting of Experts will be instrumental for the subsequent Meeting of States Parties, which will take place in Geneva from December 7-11, 2009. The theme of the Meeting of States Parties will be From Communication to Cooperation, and the topic of focus will again be capacity building in disease surveillance, detection, diagnosis, and containment. The topic for the two meetings in 2010 will be assistance and coordination on cases of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons, leading up to the Seventh BWC Review Conference in 2011.