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UN / SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS UPDATE
STORY: UN / SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS UPDATE
TRT: 1.28
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRCITIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 3 OCTOBER 2013, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
2. Wide shot, Martin Nesirky, the Spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary-General enters press briefing
3. Cutaway, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The joint team from the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has made “encouraging initial progress”, following the first working day of meetings with Syrian authorities. Documents handed over yesterday by the Syrian Government “look promising”, according to team members, but further analysis, particularly of technical diagrams, will be necessary and some more questions remain to be answered.
5. Cutaway, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The team hopes to begin onsite inspections and the initial disabling of equipment within the next week, but this depends on the outcome of the technical groups established with the participation of Syrian experts yesterday (2 October). These groups are working on three areas which are key to the mission’s success: verification of the information handed over by the Syrian Government; the safety and security of the inspection teams; and practical arrangements for implementing the plan, under which Syria’s chemical weapons material and equipment are to be eliminated by mid-2014.”
7. Wide shot, Martin Nesirky leaves microphone behind
The joint team from the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons production facilities “has made ‘encouraging initial progress’, following the first working day of meetings with Syrian authorities”, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General announced today (3 October).
Briefing journalists in New York, Martin Nesirky said that according to the team members the documents handed over yesterday (2 October) by the Syrian Government “look promising”. Nesirky added that the team noted “further analysis, particularly of technical diagrams, will be necessary and some more questions remain to be answered.”
The spokesperson also said the Joint team hoped to begin onsite inspections and the initial disabling of equipment within the next week, but he added “this depends on the outcome of the technical groups established with the participation of Syrian experts yesterday (2 October).”
Nesirky explained that those groups were working on three areas which were key to the mission’s success: “verification of the information handed over by the Syrian Government; the safety and security of the inspection teams; and practical arrangements for implementing the plan, under which Syria’s chemical weapons material and equipment are to be eliminated by mid-2014.”
The 15-member Council unanimously adopted a resolution last Friday calling for the speedy implementation of procedures drawn up by the OPCW “for the expeditious destruction of the Syrian Arab Republic’s chemical weapons program and stringent verification thereof.”
In the text, the Council underscored “that no party in Syria should use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain, or transfer chemical weapons.”
In a joint press release, OPCW and the UN said that in discussion with authorities, the team was keen “to stress that the onus was on the Syrian Government to meet the verification and distribution deadlines.”
The team reiterated, however, that the joint mission would provide the necessary technical support to meet those obligations.
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