WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2023) US President Joe Biden said in a statement that the United States should renew its commitment to forge a future without chemical weapons and called on other countries to join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
"Today - as we mark this significant milestone - we must also renew our commitment to forging a future free from chemical weapons," Biden said on Friday. "I continue to encourage the remaining nations to join the Chemical Weapons Convention so that the global ban on chemical weapons can reach its fullest potential."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier on Friday that the United States has finished the destruction of its chemical arsenal ahead of the deadline after the last remaining stockpile was destroyed at an Army depot in the US state of Kentucky.
"We will continue to stand with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to prevent the stockpiling, production and use of chemical weapons around the world," Biden said. "And together with our partners, we will not stop until we can finally and forever rid the world of this scourge."
In February, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins said the United States would finalize the destruction of its chemical weapons this spring, but in May, Biden said the United States is on track to complete the destruction of the arsenal by this fall.
The US government announced in 2012 that it will complete the destruction of its chemical military arsenal by September 30, having concluded an agreement with all state parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention that entered into force in 1997.
