C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007961

SIPDIS

FOR ISN/MTR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10 YEARS
TAGS: ETTC FR KS KSCA MNUC PARM PREL TSPA MTCRE
SUBJECT: MISSILE TECHNOLOGY CONTROL REGIME: 20 OCTOBER
MEETING OF MTCR POINTS OF CONTACT IN PARIS

REF: STATE 192533

Classified By: EST Counselor Robert W. Dry for Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: On 20 October 2005, ESTH/NP officer
attended a meeting of the Missile Technology Control Regime
(MTCR) Points of Contacts (POCS) at the Spanish Embassy in
Paris. This meeting focused on reviewing results of the
September MTCR Plenary in Madrid and on briefing partners on
the agenda for the coming months, to include MTCR outreach
activities, status of intersessional TEM, progress on the
EPOC system, and planning for the April 2006 RPOC in Paris.
Next POC meeting was tentatively planned for early December.

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MTCR OUTREACH PLANS
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2. (C) New Spanish MTCR Chair Manual Viturro informed
partners that he had received a Canadian request to
participate in a November MTCR seminar in Singapore with host
country officials. On the margins of the seminar, Chair
hoped to engage in consultations with Malaysian authorities.
Chair further advised that in 2006 he planned to visit India,
Pakistan, China, and Israel, and has already been in contact
with the relevant authorities in these countries. Initial
feedback from Chinese, Pakistani, and Indian officials has
been that no local (in-country embassy staff) will be allowed
to participate in the consultations. Chair noted that Asia
will remain a MTCR outreach priority during his tenure. In
response to a question from the Argentinean representative,
Chair commented that he had no plans to focus on Chile (in
terms of informal cooperation) or Venezuela (as a country of
potential concern), but would be open to engaging and/or
focusing attention on these countries if partners made
specific requests. On the margins of the POC meeting, the
Argentinean representative told ESTH/NP officer that his
government was interested in the MTCR Chair fixing attention
on Venezuela, as Argentina had concerns about possible
Venezuelan plans to enhance its missile program and was
watching Venezuela's emerging cooperation with North Korea
with keen interest.

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STATUS ON PLANNING FOR AN INTERSESSIONAL
TECHNICAL EXPERTS MEETING (TEM)
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3. (C) French POC informed partners that nothing had been
confirmed in terms of an intersessional Technical Experts
Meeting (TEM) prior to the April RPOC, and that the POC was
still awaiting confirmation from the Germans regarding their
willingness to host such a meeting prior to the RPOC in
April. (In a side discussion after the meeting, Bertolotti
told ESTH/NP officer that he would keep the Embassy apprised
of any developments regarding this issue).


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PLANNING FOR THE RPOC IN APRIL 2006
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4. (C) In regard to the April 2006 RPOC, Bertolotti called
on partners to agree on an agenda and submit discussion
papers for distribution to partners well in advance of the
April RPOC in order to ensure as productive a meeting as
possible. Above comments from French POC regarding the RPOC
obviated the need for EST officer to make similar remarks.
EST officer merely endorsed Bertolotti's comments.

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UPDATE ON ELECTRONIC POINT OF CONTACT (EPOC)
--------------


5. (C) As a final item, French POC commented that the
system could accept another 6-8 partners as part of the
current test phase, and invited interested partners to notify
him as soon as possible if they want to be added to the
system. He noted positive responses from the partners
already using the system.
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Stapleton