As the first project, GIS adopted and jointly financed a "Train-the-Trainers" workshop in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 27 to 31 July 1998, for military experts from Central Africa. A second project has been introduced by Guatemala, aimed at producing a policy study based on lessons-learned from collection of arms, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants into civil societies in Central America for the benefit of other affected countries. To reach this objective, a workshop was held from 18 to 20 November 1998 in Guatemala City. In both cases, the Group as a whole was able to raise necessary funds and additional support directly from GIS members and to channel financial support to a United Nations trust fund. The study has since been published in English and Spanish, and can be used as a reference document in similar crisis situations in other regions of the world.

The third project was introduced by the delegation of Albania. It called for the assistance of the international community in creating incentives for a "turn-in" programme of weapons held by a large part of the civilian population in Albania. United Nations Under-Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala and a group of experts conducted a first fact-finding mission in the country in May 1998, on the request of the Albanian Government. The mission's report recommended the development and implementation of a pilot project in the district of "Gramsh", which would offer labour-intensive, income-generating community development activities as an incentive for voluntary surrender of weapons. The "Gramsh Pilot Project" was thus born.

The uniqueness of the project consisted of its innovative approach of equal commitment to disarmament and development. The number of weapons per capita in Albania is extraordinarily high. These weapons delay political and economic progress, endanger the life of each citizen in Albania, increase criminality rates and add further instability to an already explosive region.

The project has been a success story. It has contributed to a safer and more prosperous future in the 9 communes and 98 villages of the Gramsh district. Almost 15,000 weapons and over 100 tons of ammunition have been collected. Development incentives/infrastructure, such as repairing local roads, building bridges and installing telephone lines and electricity, facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme, is under way in almost all districts of the province. By the end of last year, the project was even extended to two neighbouring districts (Peshcopia and Elbasan).

A fourth project is currently under consideration: weapons collection and their destruction in Niger. Its initial phase includes consciousness-raising, weapons collection and development incentives for the return of illicitly-held weapons. A first fact-finding mission, headed by the Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, could be under way very soon.

On 25 January, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) marked the completion of the first 1,000 days of its existence. During these days, the OPCW made great strides towards achieving its goal of a world free of chemical weapons. The world's declared stockpiles of 70,000 tonnes of chemical weapons and more than 8 million munitions and bulk containers have been inspected by OPCW inspectors and are subject to a stringent international verification regime. Three of the four countries that have declared possession of chemical weapons are now actively destroying them under the continuous scrutiny of OPCW monitoring teams. More than 1 million chemical weapons and 4,000 tonnes of chemical warfare agents have been destroyed. All of the 60 declared chemical weapons production facilities around the world have been inspected and sealed. Of these, 20 have been certified as destroyed and 5 approved for conversion for peaceful purposes. To prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons, a stringent industrial verification regime has been put in place, involving inspections of facilities that produce or consume "dual-use" chemicals that can be used for both peaceful purposes and to create chemical weapons. More than 90 per cent of the world's 6 billion people live in the 129 countries that have so far ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. The OPCW serves as a focal point for a growing number of international cooperation projects involving applications of chemistry for peaceful purposes.

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