 Good morning ladies and gentlemen distinguished colleagues it's my pleasure to welcome you here to Interpol's General Secretariat for the inaugural Global Congress on Chemical Security and Emerging Threats. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our co-implementers the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security. Additionally I'd like to thank Global Affairs Canada and G7's global partnership against the spread of weapons and materials of mass destruction for their support to this event. Interpol was delighted to hear that this Congress was formally endorsed by the global partnership Chemical Security Working Group at its most recent meeting in Quebec Canada just two weeks ago. I also welcome colleagues from our network of national central bureaus and specialised law enforcement agencies. We're delighted to see you all here at our General Secretariat and we thank you for the ongoing support and cooperation. I'm really pleased to see such a diverse set of stakeholders represented here in the auditorium. I actually see many familiar faces around the room and some new ones so I look forward to meeting some of you. At this Congress we've got representatives and delegates from all corners of the globe and many of you have travelled halfway across the world to attend this event. I know that as an Australian I was always travelling to Europe and the US so I know what it's like ladies and gentlemen and for that level of commitment and engagement to impart your expertise and support this event for that we're sincerely grateful. We've got representatives from national law enforcement agencies, civil defence institutions, customs authorities, hello Ralph, militaries and other government bureau. I'm pleased to see colleagues from international and regional organisations as well as research institutions and centres of excellence all sitting here in the room today. We also have a diverse range of private sector stakeholders including many from the chemical industry and relevant trade associations. I'm confident with such a diverse audience we'll be able to create new knowledge, new partnerships and some innovative solutions to counter chemical and explosive terrorism around the world. For us at Interpol this Congress comes at a pivotal time. Our member countries are experiencing incidents of chemical and explosive terrorism at an alarming rate. We continue to bear witness to the detrimental impacts caused by these acts of terrorism on civilian populations and the rule of law. Already the international community has moved to ban the use of chemical warfare agents however as many of us will be aware non-state actors do not abide by international convention nor norms of conduct and it's here we need to focus our attention and this event provides us with a unique opportunity to do so. For those of you who are not wholly familiar with Interpol we are the world's largest police organisation with 192 member countries and I think that's about to expand. Our primary role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place and in order to do so our member countries maintain focal point officers in countries which we call national central bureaus. These represent our first ports of call across the world. They allow us to rapidly exchange information, share intelligence and facilitate communication across international law enforcement community. We strive to ensure that officers on the front lines often sometimes operating in an intense time sensitive environment have instant access to the right criminal information and data at the right time. If you're not already I encourage all of you to establish a relationship with your national central bureau in your own country and explore ways in which Interpol can better support your work. Throughout the course of the next three days you'll hear presentations from a range of experts from those who work to prevent such incidents to those who respond to them. An important component of this threat piece will be identifying innovative technologies and tactics employed by non-state actors. Day three of the congress will be wholly dedicated to taking a closer look at the emerging threats such as those posed by drones on food and water system contamination and the creative ways criminals and terrorists acquire the skills materials and knowledge to conduct these attacks. But through this dialogue what are we trying to achieve? In short we're working to build a chemical security community of practice that transcends borders, sectors and institutions. We're working to close the coordination gap and break down the professional silos that are all too common in today's global security architecture. This congress will provide a forum for law enforcement, security forces and governments to share the challenges they're facing and for industry and civil society representatives to do the same. We hope to cultivate a common understanding of the chemical and explosive threat between industry, policy practitioners, academia, law enforcement and other representatives on an international scale. These targeted discussions on the threat amongst stakeholders with first hand and on the ground experience will lay the foundation for panel discussions that address these issues and provide insight on threat mitigation techniques and best practices. We intentionally left the scope of this inaugural congress broad. The ambition in subsequent years will be to take the key threat priorities and mitigation strategies identified and dedicate yearly gatherings to more focused and specific areas allowing for greater technical exchange of information and the development of a holistic chemical security culture. But first we must set the scene and we must establish and grow this network to collectively understand the threats we face and the capabilities we have to respond to them. Ladies and gentlemen, I encourage you all to take advantage of this event and to think creatively as we share our experiences, good practices and lessons learned. On behalf of the Interpol General Secretariat we thank you all for your participation and engagement. I'd like to thank our co-implementers once again for your generous support. I'd like to thank all the Interpol staff that have helped make this gathering possible. We're delighted to host this event and we very much look forward to the fruitful discussions over the course of the next three days. Thank you very much.