KAZAKHSTAN: CANWFZ SIGNING WILL HAPPEN AS PLANNED

UNCLAS ALMATY 003076 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN (J. MUDGE),ISN/MNA SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP PARM UNGA KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: CANWFZ SIGNING WILL HAPPEN AS PLANNED REF: A. ALMATY 2668, B. STATE 142440, C. 05 ALMATY 2231 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The countries of Central Asia will sign the Central Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty on September 8 in Semipalatinsk despite P-3 concerns, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Abdrakhmanov, because it is too late to postpone the event. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) In an August 28 meeting with the Ambassador, Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov stated that the five countries of Central Asia will sign the Central Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (CANWFZ) Treaty on September 8 in Semipalatinsk as planned (Ref A). All the countries will be represented by their Foreign Ministers except Tajikistan. ¶3. (SBU) Abdrakhmanov indicated that Kazakhstan took the P-3 demarche (Ref B) very seriously, but had determined that it was too late to postpone the event. He said that the signatories would be willing to discuss and address the P- 3's concerns in the future in order to permit signature of the associated protocol. ¶4. (SBU) The demarche had come as a surprise to him, Abdrakhmanov said, because he believed that there had been significant discussion with the P-5 over the years. He said it was important for the countries of Central Asia to demonstrate a strong commitment to non-proliferation, commenting that the P-5's willingness to "compromise" with India on civil nuclear cooperation while objecting to the CANWFZ could be seen as a double standard. ¶5. (SBU) The Ambassador informed Abdrakhmanov, who assumed his duties in March, that the P-3 had demarched FM Tokayev in 2005 (Ref C) to convey concerns about the treaty. Since that time we had not seen a revised text and therefore had no confirmation that the concerns had been addressed. The bottom line, the Ambassador explained, is that the P-3 can't sign an associated protocol if the CANWFZ contains a "backdoor" that could allow nuclear weapons to come into the region under the terms of other agreements. ORDWAY