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Rabat – Fernando Arias, the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), has commended Morocco’s “avant-garde” policy within international organizations.
Morocco’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Mohamed Basri handed on Friday his letter of appointment to Fernando Aris as the newly appointed Permanent Representative of the Kingdom to the OPCW.
Ambassador Basri reiterated Morocco’s commitment to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (CWC), noting the country’s determination to reinforce cooperation with the international organization.
Founded in April 1997, Hague-based OPCW has worked as an “implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on 29 April 1997.”
With 193 member-states committed to the CWC, the organization has succeeded in destroying 99% of the chemical weapons stockpiles declared by possessor states and protecting 98% of the global population from them.
In 2013, the organization received a Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to protect humanity from weapons of mass destruction.
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Morocco signed the CWC in January 1993 then ratified it in December 1995. Since then, the country has not obtained nor developed chemical weapons.
In April 2021, Morocco was elected President of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) after “unanimous support given by the Group of African States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to the Moroccan bid.”
Who is Ambassador Mohamed Basri?
Born in 1964 in Casablanca, Ambassador Mohamed Basri holds a Master’s degree in Law from the Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences in Casablanca.
He started his professional career in 1988 as a management executive within a national institution then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in 1990.
Basri has served in different positions at the ministry, including Secretary for Foreign Affairs in charge of the Privileges Service at the Protocol Department (1990-1992) and Head of the Diplomatic Immunities and Litigation Service at the Protocol Department (1999- 2001).
In 2001, Morocco appointed him as the Deputy Consul General in Milan before being promoted to Consul General of the Kingdom of Morocco in Rome (2011-2015) then Consul General of the Kingdom of Morocco in Naples (2015-2016). Since October 2016, he has held the position of Ambassador, Director of Consular and Social Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
