THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 13 -Albania became the first country in the world to destroy its entire arsenal of chemical weapons, the U.N. watchdog organization said Friday.
The news was reported by many media outlets from all around the world.
Albanian authorities have eliminated 16,678 kilograms of mustard gas and other chemical agents banned under an international treaty signed by 182 nations, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
OPCW inspectors verified the destruction on Thursday, the organization said in a statement. “Albania is the first nation completely and verifiably to destroy all of its chemical weapons,” the agency said.
Since 1997 when the treaty came into force, about one-third of the declared stockpiles of 71,000 metric tons of chemical agents have been destroyed, the organization said.
The OPCW has set a 2012 deadline for completion.
The Chemical Weapons Convention outlawed the production, acquisition, development or transfer of chemical munitions, and set up a tough verification system for dismantling stockpiles.
The OPCW said it has conducted nearly 3,000 inspections in 77 countries to verify compliance with the treaty in the last decade.
