Mexico City, September 30, 2021. On the 30^th September, 2021, the XXVII Session of the General Conference of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) was held with the participation of more than 90 delegates from Member States; representatives of the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones established by the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga), the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (Treaty of Bangkok), the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Pelindaba) and the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia (Treaty of Semipalatinsk); and other international entities and organizations such as the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).

The XXVII Session of the General Conference was held for the first time in a remote connection format, with the technical support of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, taking into account the circumstances generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was chaired by Ambassador Carlos Alfonso Tomada, Head of Delegation of the Argentine Republic, with the support of Ambassador Mario Búcaro, Head of Delegation of the Republic of Guatemala and Mr. Manuel Flores Troche, Head of the Directorate of Nuclear Disarmament of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico as Vice Chairs, and Ambassador Aníbal Cabral, Head of Delegation of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, as current President of the Council.

During the XXVII Session of the General Conference of OPANAL, the States Parties to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) adopted seventeen resolutions, among which the following stand out:

– the re-election, by acclamation, of Ambassador Flávio Roberto Bonzanini as Secretary General for a second term from 1 January, 2022 to 31 December, 2025;

– the request of the States Parties to the Treaty of Tlatelolco that the militarily denuclearized nature of Latin America and the Caribbean be respected and that the nuclear-weapon States withdraw the interpretative declarations of Protocols I and II of the Treaty of Tlatelolco that are incompatible with the object and purpose of the Treaty;

– the election of the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Republic of Guatemala as Members of the Council of OPANAL for the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025;

– the strengthening of cooperation with other Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones through the forthcoming signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Nuclear Energy Commission (AFCONE);

– the approval of the budget and scale of assessments for fiscal year 2022.

Also, for the first time, the XXVII Session of the General Conference incorporated the relationship between gender, non-proliferation and disarmament as part of the discussions, adopting a resolution in this regard recognizing the valuable contribution of women in the region in the promotion of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control and incorporating a gender perspective to support and strengthen the effective participation of women in OPANAL, its bodies and programs.

The General Conference is the supreme body of OPANAL and, therefore, is the one that makes the most important decisions for the Agency. It is integrated by all the Contracting Parties to the Treaty of Tlatelolco, that is, all the 33 States of Latin America and the Caribbean, and holds regular sessions every two years, and may also hold special sessions whenever it is so provided for in the Treaty of Tlatelolco, or when circumstances so require in the opinion of the Council.