Twinning of VERIFIN, Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention and University of Belgrade – Faculty of Chemistry (Center for Instrumental Analysis – CIA)

Project is funded by:   OPCW (Hag, Netherlands)

Instituions where the research is conducted:

• University of Belgrade - Faculty of Chemistry (Belgrade, Serbia) – Coordination
• VERIFIN, Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (Helskinki, Finland) – Beneficiary
• Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy (Belgrade, Serbia) – Researchers as experts

Project realization is scheduled from October 1, 2021 till December 31, 2023.

Project staff

Short description of the project

The overall objective of this project is that CIA gains knowledge and experience to successfully complete OPCW Chemical Weapons Convention Chemical Analysis Competency Test (CCACT) aiming for the OPCW designation status for environmental sample analyses. 

To achieve this, the project will seek to build capacity at CIA in the methods for analysis of chemical warfare agents (CWA) and related substances, e.g. their starting materials and degradation products in environmental matrices.

In line with the OPCW strategic goal to ensure that an adequate capacity is possessed by its Member States in the analysis of CWA and related substances, especially in the developing countries, it is desirable that this capacity is enhanced in Balkan part of Europe. 

The stakeholders in this project are CIA, VERIFIN, and the OPCW including the Technical Secretariat and the National Authorities of Serbia and Finland. VERIFIN will be transferring its knowledge to CIA through a series of mentoring and training activities; the Secretariat will provide the administration of funds and management of the project. The National Authorities will facilitate a smooth implementation of the project activities and cooperation of other stakeholders in the respective Member States in order to ensure that project specific objectives are reached and that the project produces a favourable national and international impact in the longer term. 

The beneficiary of this project is CIA. The project aims to enable the conditions and knowledge for more laboratories in Europe to gain experience in the analysis of environmental samples and hence benefit from this project’s outcomes.