UNCLAS KIEV 000718

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV GUAM
SUBJECT: UKRAINE/GUAM: ENERGIZING GUAM MEMBER STATES


(U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for Internet
distribution.


1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 4.


2. (SBU) EUR/ACE FSA Director in December 2005 advised GUAM
Embassy representatives that the USG would not wish to
continue funding the U.S.-GUAM framework project or
supporting GUAM Secretariat development unless member states
themselves funded the GUAM Information Center. As a
follow-up and in consultation with Embassies Chisinau, Baku
and Tbilisi (ref A), we recommend the Department instruct
Embassies Kiev, Tbilisi, Baku, and Chisinau to deliver a
demarche (proposed text in para 3) calling upon host
governments to show tangible commitment to the success of
GUAM, including by paying 2005 dues to the GUAM Information
Center budget.


3. (SBU) Begin text of proposed talking points:

-- The U.S. Government welcomed the principles espoused by
GUAM in the April 22, 2005 Chisinau Declaration and the
commitment by member states to put into practice these
principles through the activities of GUAM. Therefore, the
U.S. Government has for a second year agreed to fund
U.S.-GUAM Framework projects.

-- However, for the U.S. Government to remain committed to
providing in excess of one million dollars for such projects,
it must see a tangible commitment to the organization by
member states.

-- GUAM members agreed at the April 2005 Chisinau Summit that
GUAM needed to establish a GUAM Information Center as a
necessary beginning to enhance GUAM's operational
effectiveness. We share this view and applaud the Government
of Ukraine for paying in December its dues of $21,000 to the
Center's budget. We also welcome the Government of Ukraine's
commitment to identify a permanent facility for the GUAM
Information Center in Kiev and urge it to conclude this
process as quickly as possible.

-- The Government of the United States strongly urges the
Governments of Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan to pay
expeditiously their 2005 dues to the GUAM Information Center
budget.


4. (SBU) Action request: Please advise regarding
above-recommended demarche.


5. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
HERBST