CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WEEKLY WRAP-UP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 THE HAGUE 000587

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

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): WEEKLY WRAP-UP
FOR 5 MARCH 2004


This is CWC-30-04.

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RBB WORKSHOP
--------------


1. (U) Simply put, the RBB Workshop was a success. There
were no objections to implementing RBB in the 2005 budget
document, and the objectives of the workshop were
accomplished. As summarized by the Mark Mathews (U.K.),the
workshop demonstrated that 1) the OPCW has been living in
"the middle ages" with regard to budget formulation, 2) the
Technical Secretariat is pretty well prepared to implement
the first budget based on an RBB format, and 3) RBB will
allow for greater control by both the TS and States Parties.
There clearly is much work ahead for both the TS and States
Parties on the 2005 budget document, but all attendees gained
a greater understanding of RBB and feel more comfortable with
the concepts involved. The area of greatest concern focused
on the development and definition of objectives and
performance indicators for the organization, and there will
most likely be great debate over these issues during the 2005
budget consultations.


2. (U) There were presentations made by the
Director-General, Dr. Cherif (IAEA),Mr. Smith (TS
consultant),and several TS programme and branch Directors.
There were three main objectives to the workshop: 1) provide
a clear understanding of the RBB concept(s),2) report on the
current state of play within the TS in the process of
developing an RBB for 2005, and 3) address the key concerns
raised by States Parties.


3. (U) The message was driven home that RBB allows for
greater accountability and transparency for an organizations
management and member States. The RBB format is a tool used
by management to assist with more efficient and effective use
of resources. One important aspect of RBB that was
highlighted is the assessment and evaluation of the previous
year's assumptions (objectives, performance indicators,
targets, and the level of resources). The lessons learned
from this assessment are then used to develop the next year's
budget document. The OPCW is behind most similar
organizations in its budget formulation. Most UN and other
IO's have moved to using an RBB format.


4. (U) The TS has been working for more than the last ten
months with the consultant, Mr. Smith, to develop the 2005
budget document in RBB format. During March/April, the TS
will be finalizing the draft of the 2005 budget. The draft
will be circulated to States Parties in May, allowing six
months for review of the document before a decision is taken
at the 9th Conference of States Parties (Nov. 29 - Dec. 3).
Even though an RBB format will start in 2005, full
implementation utilizing the assessment and evaluation
methodology will not be reached for 3-6 years, and there will
always be room for improvement from the lessons learned from
that exercise.

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BUDGET ISSUES - MEETING WITH DDG HAWTIN
--------------


5. (U) Members of the delegations from the U.S., FRG, U.K.,
Japan, France and Italy asked to meet with Deputy DG Hawtin
on March 4 to discuss a number of budget and administrative
issues which had been raised last year with the DG and DDG
and remain unresolved. Hawtin began the discussion by
ticking off the areas in which savings are anticipated in
2004:

-- On insurance, new TS policies will yield savings of some
300,000 Euros.

-- On training, there would be savings of some 400,000 Euros.

-- Implementation of the on-call inspector arrangement also
would generate savings. Three possessor states have agreed
to the proposal, and India has said it will not participate,
but will not object, to the program. Hawtin said the initial
goal is to recruit ten on-call inspectors. For 2004, which
will be a trial year, some 150,000-200,000 Euros could be
saved, with a possible 400,000 Euros next year.


6. (U) Hawtin told the delegates that the plan is for a
zero real growth budget for 2005. As part of that exercise,
managers had been asked what adjustments they would make with
either an increase or reduction of two per cent in 2005. On
the question raised by the delegates of the level of industry
inspections, Hawtin stated that the DG agrees that OCPF
inspections are currently too how. However, it is not clear
if there is a consensus on what the "proper" figure should
be. Verification director Reeps said that there should be
more than 150 Article VI inspections, but what is not clear
is how those inspections should be distributed.


7. (U) Hawtin then made the pitch to the delegates that
while the TS appreciates the interest of member states in
savings and efficiencies in key budget areas, another way to
garner efficiencies is to give the DG more freedom to make
decisions to pursue efficiencies. Finally, the DDG noted
that an effective way for this group of delegates to make
their views known would be for it to meet with the External
Auditors when they visit to the Hague to discuss the issue of
"value for money" audits. The group noted that there were
still a number of issues that remain unresolved (travel, home
leave, etc.) and the current plan is to meet again with DDG
Hawtin on March 30.

--------------
AMENDMENTS TO THE FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
--------------


8. (U) Facilitator Peter van Brakel (Canada) began with
Regulation 12.1 and the discussion over this amendment lasted
the entire consultation. There will probably be another
round of consultations scheduled for the week of March 15,
but a decision soon is looking less likely. Office of
Internal Oversight director Louati attended the
consultations, and Del asked him to describe the difference
between the proposed definition of monitoring and the
definition of audits of "effectiveness" under Regulation
12.2. Louati's response was that there is not much of a
difference.


9. (U) Louati stressed that the primary role of monitoring
lies with managers and the implementation of RBB will assist
them with this. The OIO's role in monitoring will be: 1) to
develop standard criteria (guidelines) for all managers to
develop their own monitoring programs; and 2) to request
progress reports on programme implementation, as defined for
their program in the RBB, from the managers on a periodic
basis. The OIO will play the role of a check and balance to
compare the progress reported by the managers and the results
expressed in the budget and to ensure the accuracy of the
information provided by managers.


10. (U) When asked if he would be open to other proposals
for amendments, van Brakel responded affirmatively. After
the consultation, TDYer Lisa Benthien provided the
facilitator with the minor editorial changes to 6.2 and 6.3.
Benthien mentioned some of the other regulations that the
U.S. had in mind for amendments. Van Brakel suggested that
we provide a non-paper for distribution at the next
consultation on exactly which ones the U.S. proposed to
amend, with perhaps some background for the changes, or the
rational for the proposals, included in the paper. Benthien
promised to work on getting that to the facilitator.

--------------
UNIVERSALITY
--------------


11. (U) Del reps met with Huang Yu, Director of the External
Relations Division (ERD),and Ioan Tudor, Chief of the
Government Relations and Political Affairs Branch in ERD, to
discuss TS activities and to pass them a paper on U.S.
activities undertaken in support of the universality action
plan. Huang thanked Washington for its efforts and expressed
his appreciation for the U.S. paper. Huang reported that he
called the March 8 universality meeting to distribute to
delegations copies of three TS papers requested in the action
plan. One paper will report that there are nine States
Parties who have nominated a POC.


12. (U) Huang stressed the importance of the upcoming
universality meetings in Malta and Addis Ababa and asked the
U.S. to send representatives (the more senior the better).
He encouraged the U.S. to use any means available to persuade
Arab States Not Party of greatest concern to attend the
Middle East Regional Workshop in Malta (May 5-7),adding that
he fears that Arab nations generally will not be willing to
attend sessions with Israel. Del reps suggested that perhaps
the TS might consider running parallel sessions, thus
permitting those unwilling to meet in a room with Israeli
representatives to actively participate.


13. (U) Del reps also discussed the communications problem
between the TS and capitals/missions of States Not Party.
Huang is well aware of the issue and added examples of his
own. Another element contributing to poor communications is
that the missions of non-States Party in Brussels (or The
Hague or London) are generally small, and the officers
responsible for OPCW-related matters cover a multitude of
other topics. The CWC frequently does not make the cut. Del
reps suggested that perhaps issuing information to
representatives in capitals via e-mail might help. Huang
welcomed the idea, although he noted that even if the TS had
e-mail addresses for representatives in capitals, the
recipients were unlikely to be able to open large documents
or those with large attachments. Del reps suggested that
e-mailing the contacts in capitals to alert them to upcoming
meetings, seminars, and workshops and to advise them to ask
their missions in Brussels or the U.K. for more details.


14. (U) Huang reported that the TS is planning bilateral
visits to capitals of States Not Party in the African
regional group and invited the U.S. send a representative on
those trips. Huang also asked if the U.S. might be able to
sponsor some of the participants to the fall 2004 Caribbean
regional workshop, and Del reps agreed to relay the request
to Washington. Finally, Huang requested that the U.S.
consider how it might approach North Korea, and told Del reps
that the TS is also requesting other States Parties to try to
influence North Korea regarding CWC accession. In
particular, Huang would like to encourage North Korea to send
representatives to the Asian regional workshop in Beijing to
better educate Pyongyang about the CWC and the advantages of
membership.

-------------- ---
TENURE IMPLEMENTATION - TRANSITION SUPPORT PAPER
-------------- ---


15. (SBU) On March 3, Eva Murray, head of Human Resources,
provided Del with a copy of a draft paper which proposes
measures to assist OPCW staff as the tenure policy is
implemented. Murray provided the draft paper to a few
delegations for comment and we have sent it electronically to
AC/CB. The list of proposals include establishment of focal
points within the HR Branch to provide assistance to those
selected for separation from the OPCW. A transition support
package would also be offered that would assist in finding
new employment. The final provision is providing staff an
option for voluntary non-renewal at the expiration of their
contracts.

--------------
EC EFFICIENCY
--------------


16. (SBU) On March 5, EC Chairman Kubernat held his second
meeting on proposals to make Executive Council sessions more
efficient. Once again, however, the discussion became bogged
down, and was even more inefficient than the first session.
The participants only managed to discuss the proposal on
regular updating of the plan of activities prepared in
cooperation with the TS, with a slight detour into some U.K.
proposals in a "food for thought" paper. Informally,
however, the TS has indicated that it will proceed with a
number of the Chairman's proposals which do not require any
change in procedures necessitating approval from member
states. Some of these, such as early distribution of the
annotated agenda and documents for consideration at upcoming
ECs, have already been implemented.


17. (U) Ito sends.



SOBEL