CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): INDONESIA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 011475 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN/CB, SCA, SA, AF; THE HAGUE FOR CWC DEL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PARM PTER PHUM AMGT ASEC CWC SA AF MV RS, EAP, NEA SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): INDONESIA HOSTS FOURTH CWC REGIONAL MEETING OF STATES PARTIES IN ASIA ¶1. (U) The Fourth Regional Meeting of CWC States Parties in Asia met in Jakarta, Indonesia from September 5-7, 2006. The meeting was attended by 24 States Parties from the Asian Group: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, the Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Yemen. Three States Parties from other regional groups participated: Albania, Australia and the U.S. One State Not Party, Burma, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) participated as observers. ¶2. (U) The opening remarks were delivered by OPCW Director General Rogelio Pfirter and Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. N. Hassan Wirajuda. DG Pfirter emphasized that the diverse technical assistance programs offered by the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the U.S. continue to generate progress among the Asian member States. Overall, the DG noted, 94 percent of the 179 member States had established a national authority; 106 member States had draft legislation at various states of processing in their countries; but only 38 percent had comprehensive legislation. He emphasized that 36 Asian member States had draft legislation and he encouraged them to re-double their efforts to enact this legislation. He welcomed the recent announcement that Bhutan and Nauru had designated a national authority, but noted that 4 Asian States Parties had yet to do so. ¶3. (U) Wirajuda stated that the greatest threat today was the potential for terrorists or international crime syndicates to gain possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He emphasized that perpetrators like the Bali bombers must never be allowed to possess WMD. He stressed the importance of continued technical assistance to enable member States to enhance their national capacity. He emphasized the importance of strictly controlling the trans-boundary movement of chemicals without hampering the development of the peaceful application of dual-use substances. He acknowledged that Indonesia had established a temporary national authority and would soon submit its draft implementing legislation to the National Assembly. Once the legislation is enacted, the national authority would become permanent. However, he stressed, this situation had not precluded Indonesia from submitting industry declarations and receiving four OPCW industry inspections to date, none of which had found any violations. ¶4. (U) The three-day workshop included briefings by the OPCW on the status of implementation, implementation support (requests and offers of assistance),the status of issues pending in the industry cluster, the legal framework for CWC transfer controls and enforcement, and developing synergies between the harmonized code and the chemical abstract system. Presentations by the National Authority officials of the Asian Group member States covered the status of national implementation in their country, and panel discussions were held on the role of customs authorities in implementing import and export provisions of the CWC in Asia. JAKARTA 00011475 002 OF 002 ¶5. (U) The U.S. delegation presented its experiences in providing technical assistance visits to States Parties spanning four of the five regional groups, but specifically focusing on its outreach in Asia in 2006. The U.S. delegation reiterated its offer of technical assistance to States Parties in fulfilling their Article VII obligations and to States not Party in acceding or ratifying the treaty. ¶6. (SBU) There were several particularly noteworthy points: -- Burma was the only State not Party in attendance. A Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official delivered a national statement to inform the group that discussions on joining the CWC were occurring at the national level. All relevant ministries had agreed to Burma joining the CWC and formal agreement could occur soon, its representative said. -- Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen requested a U.S. technical assistance visit. The U.S. delegation agreed to coordinate these visits. -- Qatar offered to host the Fifth CWC Regional Meeting of States Parties in Asia in 2007. ¶7. (U) This message was drafted by USDEL to the conference. HEFFERN