07 February 2004	Saturday	15 Zilhaj 1424

THE HAGUE, Feb 6: Libya has opened the books on its chemical weapons stocks to the international body monitoring the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, it was announced Friday , the day after the north African country formally became a party to the convention.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said its experts met in Tripoli on Thursday with Libyan government officials who provided "an initial assessment of the chemical weapons stockpiles".

The OPCW, based in The Hague, is an independent international organization which works with the United Nations to monitor the 1997 convention banning the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons, and to lobby countries that have not yet joined the treaty to do so.

Libya ratified the convention on Jan 6, three weeks after its leader, Moamer Kadhafi, surprised the world by declaring on Dec 19 that it would renounce the search for chemical, biological and nuclear arms. Its ratification took effect on Feb 5, when Libya became the 159th state party to the convention.

Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Chalgham told the visiting OPCW delegation, led by the organization's secretary general, Rogelio Pfirter, that "Libya intends to comply with this convention in the spirit of complete transparency." -AFP