Vyskov, South Moravia, March 22 (CTK) – Canada will join the Centre against Weapons of Mass Destruction in Vyskov near Brno, which will thus reach 13 sponsoring nations, Vratislav Osvald, the director of the centre, told CTK on Thursday.
Within its activities, the centre recently elaborated the primary analysis for the potential use of nerve agents in the south of Britain, where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned this March.
Established in October 2006, the centre represents a unique NATO facility employing experts in chemical, biological and radiological warfare among other fields.
It currently has 12 sponsoring nations and one contributing nation, which is Austria.
The negotiations about Canada’s accession to the centre are under way and the country should send its representative to Vyskov this year.
The centre continues to face the issue of attracting qualified and experienced experts from the military and civil sectors, Osvald said.
On the other hand, it has succeeded in obtaining grants, mainly in eduction, training and development of capabilities as regards the protection against weapons of mass destruction. Thanks to the grants, the centre was able to run seven courses with international participation, in which 102 students from 29 countries were trained.
This year, nine courses have been scheduled for international specialists focusing on operators and administrators of programmes for forecasting the developments of radiation, chemical and biological situations and on the management of the effects after such incidents.
NATO manages a total of 24 centres, each of which is specialised in a particular domain. The centres connect the individual NATO militaries with scientists in a number of fields, who assist in solving some of the most complicated situations.
