Bangladesh was elected Chairperson of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the next one year.Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the OPCW Sheikh Mohammed Belal was elected today the OPCW Chairperson from May 12, 2017 to May 11, 2018, according to a message received here.The Bangladesh envoy was unanimously elected by the 41-member Executive Council of the OPCW comprising of State Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) during the 84th Session of the Executive Council of the OPCW being held in The Hague, Netherlands from March 7-10.Ambassador Belal would be the 20th Chairperson of the Council since its establishments in 1997.Under the rotational system, the term for Chairperson from Asian group is available after every five years and so far only four Chairpersons from Asian group represented this august body.Among the four, twice the Chairperson was awarded to India while once each to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Ambassador Prabhakar Menon of India (1997-1998) was the first Chairperson of the OPCW."Bangladesh`s election as the Chairperson of the Executive Council of the OPCW manifests appreciation by the international community of our contribution to the world peace and signifies international recognition of her efforts to attain global disarmament and stem proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," the message said.It said this historic win, in the month of our independence, will surely boost Bangladesh`s global standing further.Earlier on March 6, 2017, 53-member States Parties belonging to the Asian group nominated Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal as the consensus candidate of the group for the position of Chairperson of the Executive Council for 2017-2018 through straw poll, in which Ambassador Belal easily nullified his contender Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands.The straw poll preceded months-long unprecedented global campaign by Pakistan soliciting support for their candidate.Bangladesh, on her part, highlighted Bangladesh`s credential as a promoter of peace and credential of her candidate, Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal.The Executive Council is the governing body of the organization and its mandate is to promote the effective implementation of and compliance with the CWC.It is also required to supervise the activities of the Secretariat, to cooperate with the National Authority of each State Party, and to facilitate consultations with and cooperation among States Parties, at their request.The Executive Council consists of 41 members sitting for a two-year term, on a rotational basis, with due regard being paid to equitable geographical distribution, the importance of the chemical industry, as well as political and security interests.Bangladesh is an inaugural signatory to the CWC, a global disarmament agreement that bans the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons, and provides for the destruction of existing chemical weapons stockpiles and related facilities within a specified time frame.The OPCW won Nobel Prize for Peace in 2013 for its contribution in ridding world of chemical weapons to an extent never seen before. The organization implements 1993 CWC with 192 States as its members.Bangladesh signed the Chemical Weapons Convention on January 14, 1993 and ratified it on April 25, 1997.Bangladesh was re-elected to the Executive Council, after a gap for about a decade, in 2015 for the term 2016-18.Source: BSS