DUTCH ON INTERDICTION OF MISSILE RELATED CHEMICAL

S E C R E T THE HAGUE 001997 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 X5, X6 TAGS: PARM PREL MNUC ETTC BE NL MTCRE SUBJECT: DUTCH ON INTERDICTION OF MISSILE RELATED CHEMICAL (S) REF: A. STATE 228758 ¶B. BRUSSELS 3874 ¶C. STATE 226538 Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY POLITICAL COUNSELOR MARY DALY FOR REASONS 1.5 (B AND D) (S) PolMilOff made ref A demarche to Dutch MFA Nonproliferation Director Paul Wilke and Dutch MEA Policy Advisor Diana Gosens on August 7. Wilke and Gosens said that the GONL would not be initiating a formal investigation into this matter because MEG is not subject to any Dutch licensing controls. Gosens subsequently emphasized with PolMilOff that the Dutch position was that this was not an illegal export. That said, Dutch Customs had visited the exporter Brenntag's offices in Dordrecht, Netherlands and copied files which they will share with Belgian colleagues. Gosens said she had also spoken with Brenntag which claims the end user is the Syrian Ministry of Industry. Gosens claimed that had the Dutch government been aware of USG concerns while the shipment was on Dutch territory, and given that the end user was the Government of Syria, it was likely the GONL would have held up the shipment under a catch all provision. She said she had conveyed this message to her Belgian MFA colleague Paul Huynen. At this point, the Dutch view this matter as being in the hands of their Belgian colleagues. RUSSEL