FRANCE ON U.S. UNGA FIRST COMMITTEE (UNFC)

UNCLAS PARIS 006748

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL FR UNGA
SUBJECT: FRANCE ON U.S. UNGA FIRST COMMITTEE (UNFC)
RESOLUTION ON COMPLIANCE

REF: SECSTATE 178316

Poloff delivered reftel demarche to MFA DAS equivalent for
Chemical, Biological and Conventional Weapons Disarmament,
Marion Paradas and her deputy, Arnaud Roux, on September 28.
In a follow-up conversation on September 30, Paradas and Roux
said that the GoF appreciated receiving the text and that, in
principle, the GoF had no problems with the draft resolution.
She added, however, that the document could be made
stronger. She said that upon receiving the draft resolution,
her office compared it with preceding resolutions, the most
recent from 2002, and noticed that the present draft
resolution was considerably more vague. She suggested that
the resolution would run into less resistance if it were more
specific concerning the obligations of states. For example,
she said, previous resolutions mention "verification
provisions" and "agreed obligations;" these phrases, she
noted, were missing in the present draft resolution. Roux
suggested that the draft resolution would be made stronger
still if it emphasized the role of the UN in the process.
However, Paradas stressed, while it finds the draft
resolution less focused than its predecessors, the GoF
supports the general thrust of the document.

Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm
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