LITHUANIAN MFA OPPOSES ARMS SALE TO NEPAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000648 SIPDIS STATE PASS TO EUR/NB, EUR/PRA (MCASSAYRE) E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2015 TAGS: ETTC PARM LH NP SUBJECT: LITHUANIAN MFA OPPOSES ARMS SALE TO NEPAL REF: A. SECSTATE 95775 ¶B. VILNIUS 530 Classified By: Political/Economic Officer Alexander Titolo for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Lithuania's MFA will oppose the approval of a license for JSC Manubaltas to export ammunition manufacturing equipment to the Kingdom of Nepal at the GOL's next inter-agency meeting on this issue. The GOL had consulted with the USG on this sale, pursuant to its Wassenaar commitments (ref B). We informed the MFA on May 24 that the USG did not have any objection to the sale based on the information they made available to us (ref A). Details provided to the GOL from other EU nations led to the MFA's determination that the sale would violate the EU's Code of Conduct on arms exports. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Donatas Vainalavicius, of the MFA's Arms Control, Non-proliferation and Disarmament Division, told us June 15 that the MFA has concluded that the sale of ammunition manufacturing machinery would violate Criteria Two (human rights concerns) and Three (internal security concerns) of the EU's Code of Conduct on arms sales. Vainalavicius said that the Governments of France and Germany recently informed the GOL that they had previously invoked the same criteria in denying export licenses for the Manubaltas's parent company, the French firm Manurhin Equipment S.A., to export this same equipment to Nepal. (The French and German governments had not confirmed these denials to the GOL at the time the MFA initially approached us.) He reiterated the MFA's apprehension that the application of a French manufacturer for an export license in Lithuania might indicate a shopping expedition in search of relaxed licensing procedures. ¶3. (C) Vainalavicius said the export control board still has not taken a final decision, and that other ministries could still present new information in favor of the sale at its as-yet-unscheduled next meeting. Mull