NORWAY WILL CONSIDER LEADING CSV CONSULTATIONS

UNCLAS OSLO 000783 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC TRGY IAEA NO KNNP SUBJECT: NORWAY WILL CONSIDER LEADING CSV CONSULTATIONS REF: SECSTATE 95223 ¶1. (U) We delivered reftel to Norwegian MFA PDAS for Security Policy Trine Skymoen on June 14 and discussed further with Ambassador Naess our request (reftel) that Naess lead informal consultations on the IAEA Secretariat's recommendations to the Committee on Safeguards and Verification (CSV). Naess told us that Assistant Secretary Kare Aas indicated -- after returning from Washington in May -- that he would consider this idea, and the consequent resource issues, once Norway received a formal request from the U.S. Naess could not comment on the likelihood that he would be given the green light, but welcomed the fact that we have now formally demarched on this topic. ¶2. (SBU) Comment. We believe that the MFA will be inclined to let Ambassador Naess take on this role, if it can get past the resource issues. The MFA section that Amb. Naess would have to draw from for support has half of its staff transferring abroad this summer, has no replacements named yet for these jobs (due to an ongoing MFA reorganization), and faces its annual summer dearth of Norwegians willing to work when the sun shining. The resource limitations that Naess told us about earlier are real, not just an excuse to say no. Visit Oslo's Classified website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/oslo/index.cf m WEBSTER