BULGARIA DENIES RESEARCH ON, STOCKPILING OF CHEMICAL, BACTERIOLOGICAL WEAPONS

Views on BG | September 29, 2001, Saturday // 00:00

BBC Monitoring Service, United Kingdom

Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi and the Ministry of Defence on Friday [28 September] denied a report in The Guardian which links Bulgaria with the research and stockpiling of chemical and bacteriological weapons.

Commenting the publication, the press office of the Defence Ministry told BTA that Bulgaria has signed and ratified three international documents which it strictly observes.

These are the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous and Other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, ratified with Decree No 16 of 12 October 1932, of King Boris III, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and Their Destruction, ratified with Decree No 1524 of 30 June 1972 of the Bulgarian State Council, and the Convention on the Prohibition and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, ratified by the National Assembly in 1994 and effective since 1997.

Bulgaria's joining these conventions and the strict observation of international commitments is the only correct criterion and argument for a constructive position on the part of this country against the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons in any form, the Defence Ministry's press office told BTA.

The publication in the 27 September 2001 issue of The Guardian headlined, "Now for GM weapons: It's time to get tough with the biotech firms over germ warfare" by Jeremy Rifkin says that "Iraq is not alone in its interest in developing a new generation of biological weapons. In a 1995 study, the CIA reported that 17 countries were suspected of researching and stockpiling germ warfare agents, including Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, North Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Egypt, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, Bulgaria, India, South Korea, South Africa, China and Russia."

The report in The Guardian cites unproved suspicions of the past century towards Bulgaria, Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi told the weekly political talk show on national television "Panorama". "This is totally untrue," Pasi said. He said that earlier on Friday Bulgaria was invited to take part as a member in the regular session of the countries of the Australia Group to be held in Paris in 1 to 4 October. This group includes countries that are absolutely flawless in enforcing the international standards and norms for chemical and bacteriological weapons, Pasi said.

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