EXBS: KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALMATY 001287 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/ECC PVANSON, ACHURCH, ACUMMINGS DEPT FOR EUR/ACE RBUCK DEPT FOR SCA/CEN JMUDGE CBP/INA FOR BWATT AND CDONOFRIO USDOE/NNSA TPERRY, CWALKER DOC FOR DCREED AND PETERSON-BEARD USCG FOR CWILSON AMEMBASSY BERLIN FOR CUSTOMS ATTACHE AMEMBASSY TASHKENT, BISHKEK, BAKU, DUSHANBE FOR EXBS ADVISORS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP KZ SUBJECT: EXBS: KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE (MARCH 2006) ¶I. BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY MANAGERS: ¶1. EXBS Almaty continues its spring cleaning in preparation for the June 26 move to Astana. ¶2. The Almaty EXBS office initiated the CAJE process for a second LES position--an EXBS Program Assistant--and expects to have the new employee on board by June. II. COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶A. SITE ASSESSMENTS AND MEETINGS CONDUCTED ¶1. March 3 - Advisor Offenbacher met with Olga Oliker and Jennifer Moroney of the RAND Corporation to discuss the EXBS program's activities in Kazakhstan. Olga and Jennifer talked about their research projects to assess security assistance in the region. ¶2. March 13 - EXBS Advisor and Anne Cummings, EXBS Program Officer for Central Asia, discussed the EXBS program's activities and priorities in Astana with Kazakhstan's Border Service, Customs Control Committee, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. ¶3. March 14 - Anne Cummings and Advisor Offenbacher attended a meeting with Major General Bauyrzhan Yelubayev, the new director of the Almaty-based Military Academy, to identify potential areas of cooperation. Members of the Military Academy's Border Control Faculty also attended the meeting. Mr. Yelubayev and his colleagues expressed an interest in receiving training and one or more samples of each piece of equipment EXBS provides to the Border Service. ¶4. March 14 - Ms. Cummings and Mr. Offenbacher joined two representatives from the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies NIS Representative Office for lunch. ¶5. March 17 - Ms. Cummings and Advisor Offenbacher met with regional USAID representatives Margaret McCarthy and John Lord to discuss the possible use of their office's services for future EXBS procurements. USAID felt additional time and data would be necessary to determine whether this option is advisable. ¶6. March 23 - EXBS Advisor met with Ulrich Rainer, Project Manager with the European Commission's regional office in Almaty, to discuss the EU's Border Management Program for Central Asia (BOMCA). A relatively small portion of the 42 million Euros allocated for the program from 2002-2009 has been spent to date. BOMCA's primary focus has been on Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (and Turkmenistan, to a lesser extent); several projects are currently being planned for Kazakhstan but BOMCA does not focus specifically on WMD nonproliferation or export controls. ¶7. March 28-29 - EXBS Advisor attended the EXBS annual meeting in Vienna. ¶8. March 30 - Advisor Offenbacher joined the other three EXBS Advisors for Central Asia and EXBS Program Director Paul Van Son for a meeting at Austrian Ministry of the Interior to discuss the BOMCA program. ALMATY 00001287 002 OF 003 ¶B. TRAINING DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶1. March 13-17 - A pilot commodity identification training was held at a customs training facility in Almaty for personnel from Kazakhstan's Customs Control Committee and Border Service. Several years in the works, this week- long event had, for the first time, Kazakhstani nuclear technical experts teaching most of the course's units. Two representatives of the National Nuclear Security Administration's International Nonproliferation Export Control Program attended and provided support for the training. The training was well delivered, well received, and the students were attentive and actively participated. ¶C. EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶1. None. ¶D. IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS UPDATE ¶1. SAFE BOATS - The three boats and spare parts provided to Kazakhstan by the U.S. Coast Guard were delivered to Aktau on March 15. Although the boats' final destination is Bautino, some 100 miles north of Aktau, the boats remain in Aktau as Kazakhstani Customs refuses to release the vessels from temporary storage without the proper documentation. EXBS has devoted much time and effort in working to resolve this issue. We are communicating with Embassy Almaty offices, EXBS Baku, the U.S. Coast Guard and its transportation service provider, and several Kazakhstani agencies in an effort to break the current bureaucratic impasse. A turnover ceremony for the boats has been rescheduled for the week of May 15 in Bautino, although there is a chance this date will slip (once again) due to the present difficulties in obtaining customs clearance. ¶2. LES TRAINING - EXBS Program Coordinator Gulnara Abildaeva will travel to Stockholm, Sweden the week of April 24 to attend two training sessions on administering grants and cooperative agreements. ¶3. CENTRAL ASIA AND CAUCASUS REGIONAL FORUM ON EXPORT CONTROL - Kazakhstan will send six delegates (five participants and one speaker) to the U.S. Department of Commerce's regional event to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia from May 16-18. Mr. Chingiz Massenov of Kazakhstan's Atomic Energy Committee will deliver a presentation on risk- screening methods. ¶4. NUCLEAR SMUGGLING INITIATIVE, PART II - A tentative date of May 22 has been established for a follow-on meeting to last month's US-Kazakhstani talks on combating nuclear smuggling. The State Department's Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction within the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation is coordinating this effort. ¶5. INTERNAL COMPLIANCE PROGRAM WORKSHOP IN KYZYLORDA -NNSA's International Nonproliferation Export Control Program (NA-242) representatives will participate in this ICP outreach event for nuclear industries from May 23-25. ¶6. TRACKER EFFORT - This hardware, software and training package for import/export licensing communication ALMATY 00001287 003 OF 003 has a long and less than successful history in Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industry and Trade recently indicated an interest in revisiting the program and EXBS Almaty has tentatively scheduled a visit by Tracker program representatives the week of May 22. ¶7. END-USE/END-USER ANALYSIS WORKSHOP - The NNSA's NA- 242 intends to hold this event in Astana on June 15-16. ¶8. U.S. COAST GUARD MOBILE TRAINING & EDUCATAONTEAMQBOUZSES - he$twO tsainkn'0korscpifmt)almy {cjeQedg fksm-Qaay-Ud}4I}grIae`QA~"UonQf`fIhm5te"cyqn~mb!!4t`o#QQq}e4