Representatives from technical and emergency services from 10 member states party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) came together in Bridgetown from Sunday, 23 February to Friday, 28 February 2025.
The week-long training, a continuation of UK-supported work taking place across the Caribbean since 2008, focused on the detection and identification of chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals. The training was organised by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) technical secretariat with facilitation support from the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
Participants from across the Caribbean had a grounding in the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) before donning personal protection equipment (PPE) and pursuing practical training in both the detection of chemical agents and managing emergency situations. The course culminated in a simulated exercise where participants were able to put their skills to the test and then evaluate their performance in order to upskill their own organisation.
Chargés d’affaires at the British High Commission Bridgetown Charley Williams MBE opened the training, underlining the importance of such initiatives and noted: “The UK is very pleased to be working again in partnership with Barbados and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Technical Secretariat to deliver this training. This current training which focuses on building chemical sampling capability for first responders, and incident and emergency services personnel, aims to help strengthen and build shared and sustainable regional resilience to withstand any such attack.”
Participants in the training included representatives from the following organisations:
- Government of Antigua: Department of Analytical Services (Antigua and Barbuda)
- Royal Bahamas Police Force (The Bahamas)
- Department of Environment Health Services, Bahamas (The Bahamas)
- The Barbados Fire Service (Barbados)
- Barbados Police Force (Barbados)
- Belize Defence Force (Belize)
- Dominica Fire and Ambulance Service (Dominica)
- Royal Grenada Police Force (Grenada)
- Ministry of Health and Wellness: Standards and Regulation Division, Jamaica (Jamacia)
- St Kitts and Nevis Bureau of Standards (St Kitts and Nevis)
- Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (St Vincent and the Grenadines)
- Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (Trinidad and Tobago).
The UK has worked with Caribbean States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention and the regional authorities since 2008 with the aim of helping to build a strong regional response to the threat of Chemical Weapons. Previous events have focused on the development of national chemical incident plans and effectively receiving international chemical weapons-related assistance and protection support in response to a major incident. The last training in the region was in Barbados in January 2023.
British High Commission, St George’s
