GERMANY WILL PARTICIPATE IN INITIAL MEETING OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 002793 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/WMDT, EUR/PRA, EUR/AGS, AND T (TIM KATSAPIS) E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/20/2016 TAGS: KGIC PREL PTER KNNP MCAP PINR PINS IAEA GM SUBJECT: GERMANY WILL PARTICIPATE IN INITIAL MEETING OF GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM REF: A. STATE 155988 ¶B. DIETER/CONWAY TELCON - 09/20/2006 ¶C. BERLIN 1936 ¶D. STATE 110160 Classified By: EMIN Robert F. Cekuta for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) EMIN, accompanied by Global Affairs officer, and Russian Embassy Deputy Political Counselor Dmitri Cherkashin delivered ref A demarche and accompanying draft documents September 21 to German MFA Deputy Director General for Economic Affairs Michael Witter and MFA Desk Officer for International Energy and Nuclear Energy Policy Matthias Vollert. Witter said Germany welcomes the initial Global Initiative (GI) meeting in October and looks forward to participating in and contributing to the Initiative. Witter said Germany places great emphasis on preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He said he expects the GI will complement the existing nonproliferation regime by translating overarching principles into practical measures. Witter said Germany would welcome the IAEA's participation as an observer to the Implementation and Assessment Group. ¶2. (C) Witter said the MFA would undertake to provide comments on the draft documents as quickly as possible and stated Germany will immediately begin planning its participation in the initial meeting. In order to facilitate high-level German participation, Witter added, the German government would need to know the dates of the meeting as soon as possible. TIMKEN JR