Syria membership in chemical weapon treaty takes effect from Oct. 14

Syria has met its obligations in applying for membership in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and its membership will take effect on Oct. 14, a UN spokesman has said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed Syria's accession to the OPCW, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement, after the world body received additional information it had requested from Damascus.

UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Syria was asked to provide additional information following its submission of documents to join the OPCW, which is the implementing authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The statement added that the Ki-moon, in his capacity of the depositary of the 1992 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, has received the formal instrument of accession to the Convention by the Syrian Arab Republic, the report added.