I welcome the agreement reached today between the US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons.
This is an important step towards the goal of ensuring the swift, secure and verifiable elimination of Syria’s stocks of chemical weapons. Full and unreserved Syrian compliance is now key.
The international community has a responsibility to make sure that the long-standing norm and practice against the use of chemical weapons is maintained, and violators are held accountable.
The agreement should give further momentum to a political solution to end the horrendous bloodshed in Syria.
