BAHRAIN: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION AGREEMENT ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 001892 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2014 TAGS: PARM MARR MASS MOPS BA SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION AGREEMENT ON CHALLENGE INSPECTIONS REF: STATE 231260 Classified by A/DCM Hallie Hahn for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). (C) PolEcon chief delivered reftel demarche concerning an agreement on challenge inspections to MFA Director for Bilateral Affairs Dhafer Al Umran December 14. Al Umran wondered about the long period of inactivity in negotiating the agreement, and asked if the reason for this is that the challenge inspections are covered under some other international agreement. If this is the case, is an agreement on challenge inspections redundant, he asked. He promised to pass our draft MOU to the MFA legal department for research, and asked for any additional background we have on the relationship of the challenge inspections to any other international agreements. MONROE