Workshop on Guidance for Preparing National Reports on the Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC)

On 18 and 19 January 2024, a Workshop on Guidance for Preparing National Reports on the Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) took place in Hanoi. This was the first workshop held in Vietnam on guidance for the implementation of this Convention. Since 2007, pursuant to the direction of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health has been designated as the national focal point for implementing the BWC; however, many difficulties in implementation remain to date. The workshop therefore lays the groundwork for officials of the Ministry of Health and relevant ministries and sectors to approach and prepare reports, programmes and action plans in the coming period.

The workshop was attended by officials from many ministries and sectors - the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - as well as experts from the Convention's Implementation Support Unit (BWC ISU/UNODA), a representative of the European Union (EU), and experts from the Lao PDR and the Philippines. During the workshop, the experts presented an overview of the results and progress of BWC implementation; provided guidance on submitting Confidence-Building Measures reports; and provided information on opportunities for international cooperation and capacity building to strengthen biosecurity. The central focus was the preparation and finalisation of Vietnam's first Confidence-Building Measures (CBM) report.

The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which entered into force on 26 March 1975, was the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban the production of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Convention currently has 185 States Parties. The BWC has no international verification regime, and no organisation has been established to support its implementation (instead, there is an Implementation Support Unit within the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, BWC ISU/UNODA). Each year, by the deadline of 15 April, States Parties complete their Confidence-Building Measures (CBM) reports and submit them to the BWC ISU. The CBM report is the only formal tool of the BWC for promoting transparency and building confidence among States Parties. Submitting CBM reports is not a mandatory obligation, but it demonstrates Vietnam's responsibility and international commitment to prohibiting the production, development, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons in particular and weapons of mass destruction in general.

Since acceding to the BWC on 20 June 1980, Vietnam has never submitted a CBM report (in 2023 alone, 102 countries and territories submitted CBM declarations). Therefore, through the workshop, the Vietnamese experts agreed on the need to promptly and actively finalise Vietnam's first CBM report. The practical guidance on preparing the CBM report provided through a tabletop exercise (TTX) was valuable experience for the Vietnamese experts in urgently finalising this report in Vietnam.

At the workshop, the experts also introduced training programmes and capacity-building courses for Vietnamese officials, opening up many opportunities for broad and deep international cooperation in the coming period.

The Vietnamese experts gained a great deal of experience through the workshop and will soon report to the competent authorities on the content discussed, with specific proposals and recommendations.

Thanh Tung - Standing Office 81