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Andorra,officially the Principality of Andorra,is a sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula,in the eastern Pyrenees in Western Europe,bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. Believed to have been created by Charlemagne,Andorra was ruled by the count of Urgell until 988,when it was transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell. The present principality was formed by a charter in 1278. It is currently headed by two co-princes:the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia,Spain and the president of France. Its capital and largest city is Andorra la Vella.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC),which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW,with its 193 member states,has its seat in The Hague,Netherlands;it oversees the global endeavour for the permanent and verifiable elimination of chemical weapons.
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC),officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,Production,Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction,is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague,The Netherlands. The treaty entered into force on 29 April 1997. It prohibits the use of chemical weapons,and also prohibits large-scale development,production,stockpiling,or transfer of chemical weapons or their precursors,except for very limited purposes. The main obligation of member states under the convention is to effect this prohibition,as well as the destruction of all current chemical weapons. All destruction activities must take place under OPCW verification.
The Catalan Countries are those territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia,the Balearic Islands,Valencian Community,and parts of Aragon and Murcia (Carche),as well as the Principality of Andorra,the department of Pyrénées-Orientales in France,and the city of Alghero in Sardinia (Italy). It is often used as a sociolinguistic term to describe the cultural-linguistic area where Catalan is spoken. In the context of Catalan nationalism,the term is sometimes used in a more restricted way to refer to just Catalonia,Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Catalan Countries do not correspond to any present or past political or administrative unit,though most of the area belonged to the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. Parts of Valencia (Spanish) and Catalonia (Occitan) are not Catalan-speaking.
Ordino is the most northerly parish in the Principality of Andorra. It's mostly the main area of Valira del Nord or Valira d'Ordino river valley. Ordino is also the name of the main town of the parish. Other settlements in the parish are El Serrat,Ansalonga,Sornàs,La Cortinada,Llorts,Segudet,Arans,Les Salines and Arcalís. It is home to the Sorteny National Park,the largest nature area of Andorra. It has a population of 4,858,as of 2017. The town preserves a vast medieval center,mainly linked to the culture of the country.
Many nations continue to research and/or stockpile chemical weapon agents despite numerous efforts to reduce or eliminate them. Most states have joined the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC),which required the destruction of all chemical weapons by 2012. Twelve nations have declared chemical weapons production facilities and six nations have declared stockpiles of chemical weapons. All of the declared production facilities have been destroyed or converted for civilian use after the treaty went into force.
Andorra has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times,debuting in the 2004 contest and participating every year thereafter until the 2009 contest. The Andorran participant broadcaster in the contest is Ràdio i Televisiód'Andorra (RTVA). To date,Andorra remains the only nation to have never competed in a final,with its best result being a 12th-place finish in the 2007 contest's semi-final. Andorra withdrew from the contest following its 2009 appearance,with RTVA citing financial difficulties as the reason for its withdrawal. The country has not entered the contest again since. Interest in the contest has,however,remained high in the country,while statements from the Andorran government and broadcaster indicated that a future return was possible,depending on financial backing.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) rights in Andorra have advanced significantly in the 21st century,and are now considered generally progressive. Civil unions,which grant all the benefits of marriage,have been recognized since 2014,and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is constitutionally banned. The General Council passed a bill on 21 July 2022 that would legalize same-sex marriage in 2023,and convert all civil unions into civil marriage. In September 2023,Xavier Espot Zamora,the Prime Minister of Andorra,officially came out as homosexual.
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),this can be any chemical compound intended as a weapon "or its precursor that can cause death,injury,temporary incapacitation or sensory irritation through its chemical action. Munitions or other delivery devices designed to deliver chemical weapons,whether filled or unfilled,are also considered weapons themselves."
The United States Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has the rank of Ambassador and is based in The Hague,Netherlands,the seat of the OPCW. The current permanent representative is Nicole Shampaine.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Andorra since 17 February 2023. Andorra first established stable unions on 23 March 2005,providing same-sex couples with some of the rights and benefits of marriage,and later enacted civil unions on 25 December 2014,offering a greater set of rights. On 21 July 2022,the General Council voted to open civil marriage to same-sex couples. The law was promulgated by Co-Prince Emmanuel Macron on 17 August 2022,and came into effect six months later.
Antoni MartíPetit was an Andorran architect and politician who served as the prime minister of Andorra between 2011 and 2019,when he was elected on the ticket of the Democrats for Andorra.
Andorra has a monetary agreement with the EU allowing it to make the euro its official currency,and permitting it to issue euro coins from 1 July 2013. They planned to issue their first coins by March or April 2014. On 23 December 2014,coins were delivered for pre-booked customers at the Government Administration Building,and actual circulation began on 15 January 2015.
Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol is a Spanish political activist from Catalonia,who was president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) between May 2015 and November 2017.
Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó is a Catalan politician and journalist from Spain. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2024. A former mayor of Girona,Puigdemont served as President of Catalonia from 2016 to 2017 when he was removed from office by the Spanish Government following the unilateral Catalan declaration of independence. He is co-founder of the National Call for the Republic (CNxR),leader of the Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance and founder of the Together for Catalonia party.
Peter Michael Alexander Wilson is a civil servant whose most recent post was to serve as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He has also served as British Ambassador to Brazil,British Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Sophie Thévenoux is a Monegasque politician and diplomat.
Maria Ubach i Font is an Andorran diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 17 June 2017 to 16 May 2023 under the governments of Prime Minister Antoni Martíand the current Head Xavier Espot.
Víctor Naudi Zamora is an Andorran architect and politician. He was the president of the Social Democratic Party (PS),serving in the General Council (2007–2009) and then as minister of the interior in the government of Jaume Bartumeu until its defeat in 2011. He left PS at the start of 2013 and established Social Democracy and Progress (SDP) alongside Bartumeu,leading its candidacy and being one of its two members elected to the General Council in 2015. The party lost its representatives in the 2019 election.
References
- ↑ "Embassy of Andorra in Belgium". Government of Andorra. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
- 1 2 3 "El Govern acorda el nomenament i les ratificacions d'ambaixadors i d'alts càrrecs del Ministeri d'Afers Exteriors". Government of Andorra (in Catalan). 10 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- ↑ "Esther Rabasa serà l'ambaixadora d'Andorra, representant Permanent al Consell d'Europa". Government of Andorra (in Catalan). 10 June 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
- ↑ "Andorra, OPCW". Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
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