KAZAKHSTAN'S POSITION ON FMCT, U.S.-INDIA CIVIL

UNCLAS ALMATY 002187 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN (J. MUDGE),ISN/MNSA GENEVA FOR CD USUN FOR POL SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MNUC PARM PREL KNNP CDG KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN'S POSITION ON FMCT, U.S.-INDIA CIVIL NUCLEAR COOPERATION INITIATIVE REF: A. STATE 92033, B. STATE 99660, C. ALMATY 1226 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Kazakhstan will carefully consider the U.S. proposal to conclude a Fissile Materials Cutoff Treaty (FMCT),and would like advance notice in order to be able to speak on the topic the next time it is raised in the Conference on Disarmament (CD). With regard to the U.S.- India civil nuclear initiative, the MFA is concerned that the U.S. may use an NSG exception to give U.S. firms an advantage in the Indian market; it seeks assurances that all NSG Participating Governments will have equal access. End summary. -------------- Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Pol-Econ chief conveyed Ref A talking points and related materials on the FMCT to Sergey Savelyev, Deputy Director of the MFA's Department of International Organization and Security Affairs, on June 13 in Almaty. Savelyev expressed guarded support for the idea, noting that Kazakhstan "has never opposed" the U.S. proposal for an FMCT. He indicated that he understood the rationale for wanting to delink FMCT from other issues, and promised to brief his chain of command on the U.S. proposal. ¶3. (SBU) Savelyev asked for one to two weeks' advance notice before the U.S. next raises the issue in the CD, so that Kazakhstan can be prepared to comment. -------------- -- U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative -------------- -- ¶4. (SBU) Savelyev informed Pol-Econ chief that his boss Murat Tashibayev had attended the recent Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) plenary in Brasilia (Ref B) in order to comment on the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative. According to Savelyev, Tashibayev told the NSG that Kazakhstan was willing to work with the U.S. on the India initiative within the bounds of the current non- proliferation regime, on the condition that all NSG Participating Governments would have equal access to the Indian market. ¶5. (SBU) Savelyev stressed that Kazakhstan did not believe that the U.S. had made its position on the second point sufficiently clear. (Ref C reports Savelyev's previous comments on the issue of access to the Indian market.) The "discussion in the corridors" at the March 23 Consultative Group in Geneva focused on concerns that the U.S. intended to structure the NSG exception in such a way that U.S. firms would have an advantage over others in the Indian market, he claimed. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: The question of equal access to the Indian market must be resolved before Kazakhstan would be willing to take a more forward-leaning position on the India civil nuclear initiative. Given Savelyev's implicit linkage of the two issues, it might also impact Kazakhstan's position on the FMCT. End comment. ORDWAY