U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed confidence on Thursday that Syria will meet a 30 June deadline to eliminate its chemical weapons under an agreement it signed with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) last October.
“About these chemical weapons, I believe the process has been moving on rather smoothly even though there have been some delays,” Ban told the reporters following a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Sochi city, Russia.
"Our target is 30 June this year. This may be a very tight target, but I believe that it can be done with the full support of the Syrian government," said Ban, who will attend the opening of the Winter Olympics on Friday.
He noted that he received promises from Minister Walid Moallem during talks at the Geneva II conference last month that the process of eliminating the chemical weapons will move on according to the schedule.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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