SLOVENIA: MOE HELPS MAKE INTERNAL CONTROL PROGRAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000074

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR INS/ECC - AMAGOULAS AND EUR/NCE - VTRIM
ZAGREB FOR EXBS - DJOHNSTON
USDOC FOR BIS/OIP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2016
TAGS: KSTC PARM PREL ETTC SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: MOE HELPS MAKE INTERNAL CONTROL PROGRAM
A SUCCESS


Classified By: Ambassador Thomas B. Robertson for Reasons
1.4 (B,D)


1. (U) As part of the Export Control and Related Border
Security (EXBS) program, Department of Commerce (DOC)
subcontractor Arctur conducted a very successful two-day
Internal Control Program (ICP) workshop January 31 --
February 1 in Ljubljana for Slovenian industry
representatives. The workshop was supported by a DOC Export
Control Specialist and attended by regional EXBS Advisor and
PolMiloff. Approximately 21 industry representatives
participated, in addition to representatives from the
Slovenian Ministry of Economy (MOE),Office of Chemicals,
National Nuclear Safety Administration, and Customs
Administration. The workshop also featured a presentation on
EU export control regulations by Toomas Raba, a former
Estonian MFA export control official and currently a
consultant to the EU for UK-based Interexport Management
Systems.


2. (C) The success of the workshop came after months of
stonewalling from MOE Export Control Director Peter Stavanja
and MOE Director General Mojca Jazbinsek-Vovk, who had
previously indicated to Emboffs that MOE had little interest
in participating in the ICP program. COM's intervention with
Slovenian Ambassador to the U.S. Samuel Zbogar and
PolMiloff's interventions with MFA Security Policy staffer
Bostjan Jerman and North American Affairs Director Vojislav
Suc apparently paid off, as MOE changed its tune and came to
the workshop fully prepared to cooperate. (NOTE: Post
learned just prior to the workshop that Director General
Jazbinsek-Vovk resigned from the MOE in January to take a job
in the private sector. END NOTE.) At the conclusion, several
industry representatives thanked DOC Export Control
Specialist for helping to organize the workshop and indicated
how important it was for them to have the opportunity to
engage with the MOE on export licensing regulations.


3. (C) Because of the MOE,s history of stonewalling with the
EXBS program, post has designed a strategy to build on the
recent success of the ICP workshop and further engage the GOS
in export control and border security cooperation. First, COM
will send a letter to the Minister of Economy laying out how
our cooperation can be further strengthened through continued
industry outreach, adoption of the Risk Report Database and
Tracker software program, and by working together to
strengthen prosecutorial capacity in the area of strategic
trade violations. Second, we will continue to engage our MOE
interlocutors at the working level and actively seek to
dispel any misconceptions about supposed incompatibility
between EXBS programs and EU regulations. Third, we will
continue to engage experts from EU member states to inform
the Slovenes about the complementarity between our export
control programs and those of the EU.
ROBERTSON