DEMARCHE ON CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000219 SIPDIS STATE FOR OES/ETC AND EB USDA FOR FAS FOR OA/SIMMONS, OA/RICHEY, OA/JONES, CMP/G&FD/DADLER, GIPSA, APHIS STATE PLEASE PASS USTR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EAGR ETRD TBIO NL SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY REF: STATE 8877 ¶1. Embassy discussed reftel with Ms. Inge van der Leij, coordinator for genetic modification of the Dutch Environment Ministry (VROM),who will be leading the official Dutch delegation to Kuala Lumpur. ¶2. Ms. Van der Leij said she will be pleased to discuss issues raised in demarche with the U.S. delegation. She suggested the U.S. delegation contact the Irish to set up a EU Troika meeting with the Commission and the Dutch. She noted that a similar meeting had recently been arranged with the Canadians. She preferred to have such a meeting during the COP meeting in early February. Van der Leij will be in Kuala Lumpur as of February 7. ¶3. With respect to the competency issue, Van der Leij said this still needs to be worked out between the Irish and the Commission, but that individual member-states are at least responsible for budgetary issues. ¶4. Van der Leij said she would be very interested in a briefing about the Trilateral Arrangement between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. She wondered if the arrangement would be in agreement with the Protocol. ¶5. Embassy also discussed reftel with Marcel Vernooij, Department of International Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. He underscored the MinAg view that the CPB's Article 18.2(a) should not add additional bureaucracy or document requirements for bulk agricultural commodity trade. Vernooij said the Dutch government had always taken the view that CPB's objective was to ensure "safe trade" in living modified organisms. ¶6. Environment State Secretary Pieter van Geel will lead the Dutch delegation to the high-level meeting. Van der Leij will be the official delegation leader and Jaap Frederiks of the Foreign Ministry will be her deputy. Sobel