RUSSIAN GOALS FOR APEC 2006

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 008210 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2016 TAGS: PREL ECON ETRD PTER APECO RS SUBJECT: RUSSIAN GOALS FOR APEC 2006 REF: A. STATE 121653 ¶B. MOSCOW 1321 Classified By: A/POL Colin Cleary. Reasons: 1.4(B/D). ¶1. (C) We discussed U.S. APEC priorities on August 2 with MFA APEC Section Chief Pavel Alyanov and sought his views on Russian priorities at the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in September. Alyanov said Russia shared many of the same goals as the U.S. in APEC and particularly agreed on the importance of security and counterterrorism issues. Moscow supported an extension of the Counter Terrorism Task Force's mandate, but for now Moscow had no candidate in mind to serve as the group's chairperson. ¶2. (C) Reviewing Russian priorities for APEC, Alyanov highlighted Moscow's role as co-sponsor of APEC's intercultural and interfaith dialogue. He said the format for the dialogue had not yet been defined, but Russia expected the SOM to clarify the way forward. Moscow also sought to encourage more involvement by private businesses in APEC projects and indicated Russia would emphasize G-8 topics such as energy security. Alyanov mentioned Moscow's interest in transportation security, but did not outline any specific initiatives. He suggested that it would be useful for the Russian and U.S. delegations to meet on the margins of the SOM to discuss APEC counterterrorism initiatives. RUSSELL