Luanda — Angola on Wednesday participated in the presentation of the project to support the universalisation and effective implementation of the convention on biological weapons in Africa, at a session held in Geneva (Switzerland).

The information is expressed in a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Angola in Switzerland, stressing the fact that the Angolan State has been a party of the Convention since 2016.

Angola designated the National Authority for Arms Control and Disarmament (ANCAD) as the National Contact Point with the Convention, the statement says.

At the event, ANCAD shared some of its priorities, fundamentally, those relating to the development of legislation and the preparation and submission of the Reinforcement the Trust Measures.

The statement that Angola warned that Africa is a continent with its own particularities, which implies adjusting this kind of initiatives to concrete assistance actions.

The biological weapons convention is an agreement on arms control, which bans the production, development, storage and use of chemical weapons.

Currently 189 member states, including Angola, are part of the agreement, which has provisions for the systematic evaluation of the chemical industry as well as for investigations into allegations of use and production of biological weapons for military purposes.