CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): IMPLEMENTATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 002977

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AC/CB, NP/CBM, VC/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN)
NSC FOR CHUPA
WINPAC FOR LIEPMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): IMPLEMENTATION
OF UNIVERSALITY ACTION PLAN

This is CWC-128-03.


1. (U) OPCW Director General Pfirter, in a note dated
November 21, designated External Relations (ERD) Director
Huang Yu as the Technical Secretariat (TS) Point of Contact
(POC) for implementing the action plan on universality. On
November 26, Huang chaired the first meeting with delegations
on implementing the action plan. DG Pfirter, DDG Hawtin, and
other ERD officials attended the meeting, along with
representatives of 25 delegations.


2. (U) Pfirter opened the meeting by reiterating his
commitment and that of the TS to fully implement the action
plan. The plan, he noted, had been requested by the Review
Conference, completed ahead of schedule, and endorsed by the
Special Meeting of the Executive Committee on the margins of
the Eighth Conference of the States Parties. He read from
portions of the action plan to summarize the responsibilities
of the TS and of States Parties, and pledged that the TS
would fulfill its obligations. A draft plan of
universality-related activities had already been prepared for
2004, he said, and the other universality-related document
mandated by the action plan, outlining details about States
Not Party (SNP),was in preparation. He called on States
Parties to identify voluntary regional and sub-regional POCs,
as called for by the action plan, and to suggest initiatives
for multilateral and bilateral universality activities.


3. (U) Huang took the chair to distribute the draft program
of activities (faxed to AC/CB). He stressed that this was
the first step in a consultative process with POCs and other
interested States Parties on next year's program. The TS,
for its part, was eager to keep up the momentum. To that
end, he announced that notes of invitation would be
transmitted in the coming days to all States Parties to
nominate POCs for their regions.


4. (U) Ambassador Javits congratulated Huang on his
appointment and expressed hope that States Parties would
respond positively to his invitation to serve as Regional or
Sub-Regional POCs. While there may be more than one POC for
each region, he emphasized, each region should have at least
one. The Ambassador urged the TS to convene a coordination
meeting with regional POC's and any other interested States
Parties before the end of this year, perhaps on the margins
of next week's EC session. He praised the transparency and
comprehensiveness of the draft program of activities, and
said that U.S. representatives looked forward to
give-and-take with the TS and other delegates in coming up
with a useful and effective program. The Ambassador urged
States Party delegations in attendance to study the proposed
schedule of activities and look for ways they could assist in
promoting outreach to SNPs.


5. (U) Several delegates announced ongoing and planned
universality-related activities. Italy said that the EU
would soon launch an initiative to demarche all SNPs to
accede to the Convention. Japan announced that it had
already been contacting non-member states bilaterally, and
looked forward to the TS document on SNPs to help that
process. China also stated that it had been engaged
bilaterally with certain regional SNPs, including those whose
non-accession was cause for particular concern. Australia
said that these activities appeared to be fully in tune with
the purposes of the Convention, but that they also pointed to
the need to coordinate such activities. Much of the
discussion that followed drew on the proposed program of
activities, with South Africa expressing concern that they
not draw down International Cooperation and Assistance funds
and that they not be forced on uninterested states. Huang
responded that the 2004 budget included 75,000 Euros
specifically for universality-related activities, and that
other activities overlapped with the objectives of ICA. The
DG said that his own bilateral contacts were sometimes at his
own initiative, or represented follow-ups to earlier
contacts, and did not come expressly at the invitation of the
contacted state.


6. (U) The UK and ROK both endorsed the U.S. call for a
meeting of POCs before the end of the year. Spain and Italy
objected that the following week's EC would be too early, as
few states, not to mention individual representatives, would
have been identified yet as POCs. USDel responded that an
early meeting, including the representatives of any
interested States Parties, would help in identifying POCs and
addressing other questions to allow concrete actions to get
underway early in the new year. Huang said the TS would
schedule a meeting "as soon as feasible."


7. (U) In sidebar conversations following the meeting, USDel
re-iterated the points made earlier to TS and WEOG
counterparts, emphasizing that while it was up to the State
Parties, the Regional Groups, and the TS how to organize the
POCs, initially at least they should be based at The Hague to
allow close coordination with the TS. This did not preclude
nominating POCs in capitals. The point was to facilitate
communication and coordination of activities.


8. (U) Javits sends.
SOBEL