Minister of Economy and Energy, Petar Dimitrov will open on May 26, Tuesday, the regional meeting of  the organisation for prohibition of chemical weapons (OPCW). During the inauguration ceremony, the ambassador of the organisation, Rohelio Pfirter will be present alongside Dimitrov, the Focus news agency has reported.

The conference will be held at 9.30 am in the National Palace of Culture (NDK) in Sofia, in Hall 9 on the fifth floor, on Tuesday, May 6.

The convention aims to ban the development, production, accumulation and use of chemical weapons, and to facilitate the destruction of chemical stockpiles across the world. The OPCW's decision to allow Bulgaria to host the eight regional meeting is considered as a 'testimony to Bulgaria's active policy towards chemical disarmament and the banning of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)' the report has said. 

OPCW is an international agency, with its headquarters located in the Hague, the Netherlands. Its overall mission is to promote membership of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty that has been in force since 1997.  From the beginning the establishment aspired for the "elimination of the scourge of chemical weapons forever and to verify the destruction of declared chemical weapons' stockpiles within stipulated deadlines", as stated in OPCW's official website.

It organises inspection procedures worldwide to verify compliance with the treaty, and provides technical support to countries who have inherited a legacy of chemical weapons stockpiles from previous governments.