The 2013 Meeting of States Parties of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention was held in Geneva from 9 to 13 December, chaired by Ms Judit Körömi, Special Representative of the Foreign Minister for Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-proliferation. For the first time in the history the Convention, the 2013 meetings were chaired by a female diplomat.

States Parties adopted the Chairman’s report on her universalisation activities and welcomed the new members that had joined during 2013 – Cameroon, Guyana, Malawi, Nauru – bringing the number of States Parties to 170. The meeting ended successfully with the adoption of the report of the Meeting of States Parties by consensus.

The 2014 meetings of the BWC will be chaired by Ambassador Urs Schmid of Switzerland while Ms Körömi and Ambassador Mazlan Muhammad of Malaysia will continue as vice-chairmen.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)