The date of entry into force for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) – 26 March 1975 – has come to be recognised as a key date in the history of biological disarmament. It was commemorated in the Palais des Nations at Geneva on its twenty-fifth anniversary, when delegates of States Parties then meeting in the BWC Ad hoc Group (AHG) followed their Chairman, Ambassador Tibor Tóth, across the hallway to join a special seminar organised by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and disarmament nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to mark the occasion; and in Geneva, Berlin and Brussels on its thirtieth anniversary, when seminars again took stock of progress and looked forward to the strengthening of the BWC. These were all occasions for renewal of hope and fresh commitment by NGOs and other longterm friends of the Convention, and opportunities for representatives of States Parties to encourage them, and to be encouraged by them, in the shared quest for ways of reinforcing their treaty regime.1