Syria pledges to cooperate with chemical arms inspectors

Syria's Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haidar stressed Wednesday his country's resolution to fully cooperate with the international chemical experts to eradicate its chemical weapons stockpiles.

"Syria is determined to get done with the chemical weapons' file," Haidar said in an interview with Xinhua, as inspectors and administrative staffers from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Damascus Tuesday to figure out ways to destroy the chemical weapons of Syria.

While stressing that the Syrian government would "provide all necessary facilitation and fully cooperate to implement the recent UN resolution" crafted by the superpowers to destroy the chemical arsenal of Syria, Haidar said the team must carry out its mission with "high efficiency and transparency" to win the trust of the Syrian government.

"Today what is needed is goodwill gestures from the inspectors, " he said.

The OPCW's operation, mandated by the UN Security Council last week, is set to rid Syria of chemical weapons by the middle of next year and the advance team is expected to determine the size and locations of Syria's recently declared chemical stockpile.

"Syria handed over a full file about its chemical weapons, their locations and sizes and every related documents to the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," Haidar told Xinhua, pointing out that the mission of the experts' team is to "verify those information by comparing the information in the presented documents from the Syrian government with the reality on ground".

Damascus admitted in September it owned chemical weapons, a step necessary for it to accede to the OPCW.

The next step is to disclose its stockpile and to aid the OPCW in the destruction of not only the weapons but also their manufacturing equipment and delivery systems.