Sun, 17 Nov, 2013 04:35:27 AM Norway, Albania refuse to participate in destruction works No country is yet to accept the request for destruction works FTimes-STT Report, November 17  File Picture of Ekokem hazardous waste treatment plant in Riihimäki. Photo - Lehtikuva. Finland may participate in the work for destroying Syrian chemical weapons, although no country is yet to respond to the US call.
The foreign affairs ministry has already communicated with Ekokem, a Finnish company that deals with dangerous waste handling, and asked the company authority whether it had the technical capacity to handle the wastes of the destroyed chemical weapon, company sources said.
Ekokem Executive Director Timo Piekkari told STT that the foreign ministry had contacted them a few weeks back with a request for participating in the chemical weapons destruction activities in Syria and they responded positively.
An image grab taken from Syrian television on October 19, 2013 shows an inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at work at an undisclosed location in Syria. Chemical inspectors have checked 14 out of more than 20 sites in Syria, the world's chemical weapons watchdog said October 18, 2013, as a top UN official appointed to lead the mission headed for The Hague. Photo - AFP / Lehtikuva. He, however, said no further talks on the issue or any agreement was made in this regard.
“We were asked, if we had the expertise to destroy chemical weapons and we answered that it was exactly what we professionally do,” Said Piekkari.
Piekkari said Ekokem, a joint venture company with 34.1% state ownership, would be ready to handle the weapons all by itself.
However, Chairman of the parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs Timo Soini declined making any comment to STT on the issue.
Photo - AFP / Lehtikuva. None of the countries, who had so far been approached for hosting the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons, has accepted the request.
Among others, Norway and Albania have already rejected the US request.
Syria is thought to have more than a thousand tonnes of chemical weapons stockpile.
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