CZECH'S RESPOND TO PSI LETTER ON UNSCR 1718

UNCLAS PRAGUE 001474 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR ISN, T AND EUR/NCE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP PARM PREL EWWT EZ SUBJECT: CZECH'S RESPOND TO PSI LETTER ON UNSCR 1718 REF: STATE 179472 ¶1. (U) Sensitive But Unclassified, please protect accordingly. This is an action request. Please see paragraph 5. ¶2. (SBU) Summary: The Czech MFA Political Director has written to Under Secretary Joseph to recommend two PSI improvements. Post requests a formal response to the Czech proposals. End summary. ¶3. (SBU) MFA Political Director Martin Povejsil responded on November 16 to Under Secretary Joseph's October 27 letter (reftel) by stressing the Czech Republic's strong commitment to implementing UNSCR 1718. He highlighted two areas where the Czechs view PSI could be improved. Specifically, the Czechs propose that a Krakow Point of Contact be created and that an information system similar to the NSG's Nuclear Information Sharing System be set up for sharing of sensitive information. The Czech proposal is excerpted below. The full text of the letter has been faxed to EUR/NCE and relayed to ISN/CPI. ¶4. (SBU) Begin excerpt from Political Director Povejsil's letter: "With regard to the need to continue to develop new mechanisms to share information on proliferation activities and to freeze the finances of proliferators mentioned in your letter I would like to recall two Czech proposals presented at the last PSI High Level Political Meeting in Warsaw. We strongly believe that the PSI needs to cope with increased membership by creating a minimum organizational frame. For such a purpose the Cracow (sic) Point of Contact (CPoC) might be a good solution. Moreover, we thought Poland would be an ideal host for the CPoC due to her PSI activities. The primary function of the CPoC will be timely distribution of the information to all PSI members. The second suggestion deals more with the technical side of sharing information within the PSI. Stemming from our good experience with the US based NSG Nuclear Information Sharing System (NISS) we suggested that a similar US based information system dedicated for the PSI could greatly enhance the PSI effectiveness especially in terms of sharing the PSI sensitive information on results of PSI exercises, proliferation activities and on proliferators' financial resources. I am looking forward to cooperating with you closely on implementation of Resolution 1718 and on promoting the greater role of the PSI." End of excerpt. ¶5. (SBU) Action Request: Post requests the Department provide a formal response to Povejsil's letter to Under Secretary Joseph. GRABER