On December 14 – 18, 2015 the annual Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (BWC) takes place in Geneva.

Representatives of States Parties to the Convention, relevant international institutions and NGOs attend the event.

Participants are discussing ways to further strengthen the BWC, deepen international cooperation, including in the context of providing technical assistance to States Parties to the Convention to identify and combat threats of pandemic nature and use the results of biological research for peaceful purposes.

Permanent Representative of Ukraine in Geneva Yurii Klymenko in his statement during the Meeting stressed the important role played by the BWC in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, called for comprehensive strengthening of the Convention’s regime, including through its further universalization, improving the confidence-building mechanism, strengthening the monitoring process and evaluation of research and biotechnology, enhancing international cooperation. It was also emphasized on the significant deterioration of our country's biosecurity and biosafety system due to the aggression of the Russian Federation and subversive activities of Russia-backed illegal armed groups, which, in particular, led to the loss of control over the Ukrainian anti-plague station of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine, the Crimean republican diagnostic laboratory, as well as the Donetsk and Luhansk regional sanitary and epidemiological stations.