AUSTRALIANS SEEK COMMON POSITION WITH U.S.ON WCDR

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 000072 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/07/2015 TAGS: PREL EAID AS JA CA EUN UN USEU BRUSSELS SUBJECT: AUSTRALIANS SEEK COMMON POSITION WITH U.S.ON WCDR AND EU ADDITIONALITY REF: A. HUIZINGA-CHASE/LUCAS/PEAY E-MAILS ¶B. 01/06/05 Classified By: USEU POLOFF TODD HUIZINGA FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: We met with counterparts from the Australian Mission to the EU, at their request, to discuss EU additionality and the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR),to be held in Kobe January 18-22. The Australians said Canberra was concerned, in the context of the tsunami disaster, about &perceptions that may arise if Australia were seen as letting a procedural concern8 such as additionality hinder the Kobe conference,s mobilization of support for those affected by the tsunami. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) In their January 7 meeting with Poloff, Alison Burrows (protect),Minister, and Catherine Dobbin (protect),Third Secretary, said the Australian position on additionality SIPDIS remained broadly in agreement with the U.S. They said that Australia was developing a specific stance on the status and rights of the European Commission at WCDR, and asked for U.S. views. We told them that the USG,s general views on EU additionality, conveyed to the Australians in New York and elsewhere, had not changed. However, we noted USG thinking on WCDR is fluid (ref). We stressed that the U.S. welcomes the European Commission,s (EC) active participation at WCDR, and added that the EU had not yet responded to our December 2004 questions on WCDR. ¶3. (C) Burrows replied that Australia had posed specific questions to the EU on WCDR, and was awaiting a response. She said that contacts with Japanese officials had given her the impression that Japan &was sitting on its hands8 regarding EU additionality and WCDR, not wanting disputes over additionality to cloud the Kobe conference. Burrows and Dobbin, who were asked to speak to us by their Foreign Ministry, said Australia would prefer to come to a &common position8 on EC participation at WCDR with like-minded countries such as the U.S., Japan and Canada. They said they would keep us abreast of developments regarding Australian policy, and asked that we do the same. MCKINLEY