EXBS: SLOVAKIA ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000198

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR NP/ECC - PVANSON, ACHURCH, JOHN COFFEY
DEPT FOR EUR/ACE - DMARTIN
CBP/INA FOR PWARKER, BPICKETT
USDOE/NNSA FOR TPERRY
DOC FOR PETERSEN-BEARD
PRAGUE FOR MARK CANNING
VIENNA FOR KENNY MACDONALD
BUDAPEST FOR JEFFREY IZZO
WARSAW FOR THOMAS YEAGER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP ETTC PREL LO
SUBJECT: EXBS: SLOVAKIA ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE
- FEBRUARY 2005


1. BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY
MANAGERS.
None.


2. COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD.


A. SITE ASSESSMENTS AND MEETINGS DURING REPORTING
PERIOD.


1. February 1, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor met with Mr.
Paul Van Son, Director Department of State, Non-
Proliferation Programs - Export Control Cooperation
(NPP-ECC) and Mr. Jason McClellan from the same
department, in Bratislava, Slovakia. Mr. Van Son
advised that NPP-ECC is planning to close down the EXBS
Office in Bratislava effective March 17, 2005,
concurrent with the end of the current Advisor's PSC
contract. Mr. Van Son told the U.S. Embassy's Charge
d'Affaires that the EXBS Advisor who will soon be
opening an office in Zagreb, Croatia, would then handle
Slovakia's EXBS Program. The EXBS Advisor and Mr. Van
Son also met with the Director, Slovak Border and Alien
Police and the Deputy Director General of the Slovak
Customs Directorate to update them on planned changes
to the EXBS Program here in Slovakia.


2. February 6, 2005 - Slovakia EXBS Advisor traveled
to Warsaw, Poland. The purpose of this trip was to
accompany Mr. Cassady Craft and Mr. Blake Prichard from
the Center for International Trade and Security,
University of Georgia (CITS/UGA) in meetings with
officials from various ministries of the Polish
government. CITS/UGA has been contracted by the State
Department (NPP-ECC) to conduct export control
assessments of countries that receive EXBRS support.
The EXBS Advisor accompanied the team in the role of
Customs expert.


3. February 7, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA
team met with the Director General of the Polish
Customs Directorate, the Deputy Director of the
Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Director and Deputy Director of the
Export Control Department of the Ministry of
Economy and three export policy experts
(munitions) from the Military Intelligence
Services, Ministry of Defense. These meetings
were packed with information necessary for the
CITS/UGA team to gain a better understanding of
the export control procedures in place in Poland
and for the team to assess the strengths and
weaknesses of their program.

The team also met with Witold Kowalczyk, Deputy
head of the Customs Office at Warsaw's Okecie
International Airport. There we toured the Air
Cargo facility and learned how exports and
strategic goods are processed in the airport
environment.


4. February 8, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA
team drove to the Port of Kuznica on the Polish
border with Belarus. There we met with Dariusz
Muszynski, Deputy Director of Bialystok Customs
Chamber and the Director for the Kuznica border
station. These gentlemen answered our questions
regarding their handling of exports and strategic
goods and then provided us with a tour of their
border station.

It should be noted that this station is only a
little over one year old. It is a model port,
with the most advanced equipment available in
Poland. In fact, this border station is "state of
the art" and is better designed and equipped than
many border ports found in the United States. All
passenger vehicles, buses and trucks
entering/exiting the country must pass through
portal monitors (gamma detectable only). This
station's cargo facility has an import lot that
will hold 80 trucks and an export lot that will
hold 70 trucks. Each lot has its own enclosed
truck inspection facility and its own stationary
VACIS manufactured by "Heimann", a German company.
The station has a security system that includes
150 digital cameras and a central control
monitoring room. DVD recordings can be made from
any of the 150 cameras and stored for a 30 day
period. I would highly recommend that any CBP
officials visiting Poland in an official capacity
should add a trip to this border station to their
itinerary.


5. February 9, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA
team
drove to the Port of Bezledy on the Polish border
with Russia (Kalingrad District). Here the team
met with Deputy Director Dariusz Postek of the
Olsztyn Customs Chamber and the Director of the
Bezledy border station. They gave us a very
informative presentation on their border station
and answered all of questions regarding export
control procedures and strategic goods processing.

This is the largest and busiest border station on
the Polish/Russian border. About 90% of all
traffic is outbound (export). For outbound
trucks, only animals and perishables and strategic
goods are cleared at the border station. All
other exports are cleared at the inland Customs
office. All strategic goods exportations require
a 100% physical exam. Each border station has a
Strategic Goods Coordinator and a team of well-
trained inspectors for handling strategic goods.
There are normally two strategic goods trained
officers on each shift. This border station is in
the beginning stages of a seventeen-month, $4
million process to rebuild, enlarge and up-grade
the current station. The cargo facility has a
VACIS manufactured by Heimann of Germany. All
vehicles pass through portal monitors (gamma
detectable only).


6. February 10, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA
team visited the Gdansk seaport and met with
Deputy Director of the Gdansk Customs Chamber
Jaroslaw Lipski, Tomasz Wegiel, Head of Legal
Organization Department of the Gdansk Customs
Chamber, and several other Customs managers from
the Gdansk Customs Chamber and the Gdansk Seaport.
They gave us an excellent presentation on the
activities and staffing of the Customs Chamber and
the Gdansk Seaport. We also received an excellent
presentation from the Strategic Goods and Dual Use
Goods Coordinator.

We then toured the seaport where we visited the
Seaport Customs Office and met with the Seaport
Director and his Deputy. They explained the
paperwork flow for imports and exports and told
about their computerized risk analysis system.


7. February 11, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA
team visited the Gdynia seaport and met with
Seaport Director Mieczyslaw Swarcewicz and several
other members of his Customs staff. They provided
us with excellent briefings on their seaport
operations, statistics, staffing and procedures
related to the export of strategic and dual use
goods. We also received an excellent presentation
on the automated cargo system used by Polish
Customs called "CELINA" and their automated cargo
transit system "ISTAR". We then met with Mr.
Julian Karaszewski, Managing Director of Baltic
Container Terminal (BCT),Gdynia. Mr. Karaszewski
gave us a very interesting briefing on the BCT
terminal layout, statistical data, and their
cooperation shared with both the Polish Customs
and Border Guards.


8. February 14, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and EXBS
Program Assistant spent the day working with
Customs at Bratislava Airport. We learned how
Slovak Customs processes air cargo entries, how
their automated cargo data system (ASYCUDA ++) and
risk analysis sub-system works, how their In-
Transit system (ISHTAR) works, and how passengers
(both arriving and departing) are processed by
Customs. A full assessment report of this visit
has been forwarded to CBP, INA headquarters.


9. February 17, 2005 - EXBS Advisor traveled to
Budapest, Hungary to attended a media event with
U.S. Ambassador George Walker. The purpose of the
media event was to cover the donation of a new
Mercedes-Benz X-Ray Autovan, from the EXBS Program
to the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard.
Ambassador Walker thanked the government of
Hungary for the cooperation they have given the
United States and congratulated the Hungarian
Customs and Finance Guard for their efforts to
secure their country's borders. He then presented
the key to the vehicle to Major General Dr. Jnos
Nagy, Commissioner of the National Directorate of
Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard. The event
received excellent media coverage from local
Television stations, radio stations and
newspapers.


10. February 18-24, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor assisted
the embassy staff during the POTUS visit by
volunteering to serve in the Embassy Control Room.
During this period the EXBS Advisor was also on-
call as the Embassy Duty Officer.



11. February 28, 2005 - EXBS Advisor met with Mr.
Roman Moravec, Head of the Division of
Prohibitions, Restrictions and CAP, Customs
Directorate, to discuss the upcoming visit of the
DOE X-Ray Maintenance/Repair Team on March 9-11,

2005. Mr. Moravec has instructed members of the
Control Division in Poprad, Slovakia to deliver
the x-ray van to Bratislava on March 8, 2005, so
that it can undergo its semi-annual maintenance.


B. TRAINING CONDUCTED DURING REPORTING PERIOD.

None


C. EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING REPORTING

None.


D. IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS UPDATE.

The DOE X-Ray Maintenance/Repair Team will be in
Hungary March 5-7, Slovakia March 8-10 and the
Czech Republic March 11-16, 2005.


E. SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN EXPORT CONTROLS,
NONPROLIFERATION, OR RELATED BORDER SECURITY.

None.


3. RED FLAG ISSUES.

None.

Questions regarding this report can be directed to
Larry Adkins, EXBS Senior Advisor, at AmEmbassy
Bratislava at telephone no.: 421-2-5922-3375, fax: 421-
2-5922-3497 or through email at adkinslh@state.gov.

THAYER


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