Mr. Chair,

India thanks the Chair of MX4 on assistance response and preparedness, Ambassador Elena Kuzmanovskaof the Republic ofNorth Macedonia, for her very ably chairing our meeting and guiding our work. MX4, which deals with, inter alia, the practical challenges facing the implementation of Article VII of the Convention and possible solutions is an important area for our work. It is heartening that Article VII has never been invoked and we hope that it will never be.

Mr Chair,

The Covid-19 pandemic has indeed been a steep learningcurve to policymakers and practitioners all over the world. It has demonstrated that biological events can be disruptive and devastating for humans, animals and plants.The importance of finding practical solutions to implement Article VII of the Convention and to stay ready and prepared is more than evident.

India believes that a sound framework for assistance response and preparedness will also serve as an excellent incentive for universalization of the Convention and thus enhance global peace and security.

Mr Chair,

Rendering assistance to States Parties to the BWC is a legal obligation under Article VII of the Convention. The absence of clearly laid out procedures for seeking assistance, hampers the ability of the global community to respond effectively and provide assistance to States parties exposed to dangers as a result of violation of the Convention.

In this context, I wish to draw the attention to the Review Conference in 2016, which noted pertinently that the capabilities to detect, quickly and effectively, respond to and recover from, the alleged use of a biological or toxic weapon needs to be in place before they are required.

In this spirit, India and France have submitted a joint proposal for the establishment of a database for assistance in the framework of Article VII of the BWC, as also elaboratedin our working paper submitted to this meeting of States Parties.With the able support of the ISU, in-depth discussions with State Parties have taken place during the intersessional period to coalesce theviews on the proposal. India and France have held three workshops during this year to identify major aspects for the operationalization of the proposal.As part of this exercise, lessons learnt from the assistance databases of other relevant international organizations have also been shared in this framework.We would like to thank the representatives of these international organizations, including WHO, OPCW and the IAEA for their assistance in this work.We would also like to express a special word of appreciation for Mr. AlexLampalzer and Mr. Daniel Feakesfrom the ISU and Ms. Fanny Paniagua, as our consultant on this study project.

India and France invite all States Parties to agree to a decision at the Ninth Review Conference for the establishment of a database for assistance in the framework of Article VII.

Mr Chair,

India welcomes all proposals aimed at strengthening and operationalization of Article VII. The proposal by South Africa on guidelines and formats to assist the State Party, if required, when submitting an application for assistance in the framework of Article VIIwillfulfill an important gap in the Convention.Another important proposal for MobileBiomedicalUnits, submitted by the Russian Federation, also deserves a serious consideration for its value in enhancing assistance, response and preparedness of States Parties.

India stands ready to work with all States Parties to actualize important outcomes at the upcoming Review Conference.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.