The focus of the Executive Council meeting was the visit of Syria’s new Foreign Minister al-Shaibani, who reaffirmed in his speech that the Syrian transitional government would destroy the remaining remnants of the chemical weapons program, for which the Assad regime is responsible. Numerous State Parties expressed their willingness to support the OPCW and Syria in securing and ultimately destroying these chemical weapons.

Many State Parties expressed deep concern that a further report of the Technical Secretariat confirmed the use of riot control agents in Ukraine and thus a violation of the Convention; drawing on extensive evidence that the Russian military used these banned chemicals, there were widespread calls for the Technical Secretariat to clearly identify those responsible for this.

Ambassador Thomas Schieb, Germany's Permanent Representative to the OPCW, was elected as the new Chair of the Executive Council (May 2025 to May 2026).