Global Security Newswire

Saudi Arabia is making moves to strengthen national implementation of international treaties aimed at preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the Press Trust of India reported today (see GSN, Oct. 19, 2009).

A national commission established to ensure that Saudi Arabia enacts rules set by the Chemical Weapons Convention has been authorized to conduct similar activities for the Biological Weapons Convention and other pacts, according to Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja. The panel is now also under the oversight of the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

"It will serve as the national center for contacting international organizations concerned with implementing agreements on banning chemical and biological weapons, along with other countries that have ratified the treaties in order to implement the ban and meet its requirements," Khoja said.

The group also intends to prepare guidelines regarding the biological and chemical prohibitions and to collaborate with various government offices to ensure that the protocols are efficiently put into place at the national level.

Saudi Arabia joined the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972 and the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1996.

Meanwhile, Riyadh plans to establish a standing panel at the King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology to coordinate the nation's activities on nuclear nonproliferation pacts (Press Trust of India/Zee News, April 14).