Ahmet Uzumcu re-appointed as OPCW Director General

Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu on 4 December 2013 was re-appointed as the OPCW Director General at the 18th Session of the Conference of State Parties. This will be his second term in the office.

The Director-General called 2013 a truly historical year in his statement during the opening of the conference as the year has witnessed an unprecedented challenge for the OPCW in the form of eliminating Syria’s  chemical weapons in the midst of an active war.

About Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu
• Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu has served as OPCW Director-General, since 25 July 2010. He was appointed to the position in December 2009 by the 14th Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention
• He has represented Turkey at the United Nations Office in 2006 and Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Council between 2002 and 2004
• He is a career diplomat with vast experience in multilateral diplomacy
• Ambassador Uzumcu has a thorough understanding of political-military affairs and disarmament and proliferation issues
• He graduated from Foreign Relations Department of the Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University.
• He was consul at the Consulate General in Aleppo, Syria and ambassador to Israel from 28 July 1999 to 30 June 2002
• In 2008, he became chair of the Conference on Disarmament
• He received an Honorary Doctorate for Lifetime Achievements in Arms Control and Disarmament from the Geneva School of Diplomacy in 2010

The Nobel Committee in recognition of 16 years of achievement of the OPCW has awarded it the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

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