DEMARCHE ON MANAS AIRFIELD

C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000410 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR D (FRITZ),EAP/FO, EAP/ANP, SCA/DAS, EUR/RUS, AND EUR/RPM NSC FOR VICTOR CHA SECDEF FOR OSD/ISD LIZ PHU PACOM FOR JO1E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2016 TAGS: MARR MOPS PREL NZ SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON MANAS AIRFIELD REF: SECSTATE 81543 Classified By: DCM DAVID R. BURNETT, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) On May 23, Pol-Econ Counselor and DATT shared reftel demarche with Chris Seed, Deputy Secretary of Defence. PE Couns also separately conveyed the demarche to Matthew Paterson, Policy Officer in the Security Policy Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). ¶2. (C) On May 25, Paterson told PE Couns that as an originating member, New Zealand continues to take OEF very seriously. GNZ also remains grateful to the United States for the logistical support it has provided for New Zealand's participation, as well as for the potential air cover and evacuation support that NZ fortunately has not needed to date. For this reason, New Zealand would be happy to support our request. ¶3. (C) New Zealand has no diplomatic mission in Kyrgystan, which is covered out of NZ's Embassy in Moscow. The new NZ Ambassador to Russia, Christopher Elder, has not yet presented his credentials to the Kyrgyz Government, and MFAT is considering combining the presentation (which has not yet been arranged) with the request on our behalf regarding Manas Airfield. Paterson also said MFAT believes that as NZDF had deployed a C-130 at Manas during the initial stages of OEF, New Zealand still has useful contacts there. Peterson cautioned that no matter what strategy MFAT ultimately pursues, GNZ has found it can take a while to arrange meetings with Kyrgyz officials, as New Zealand has few significant interests in Kyrgystan. He promised to keep PE Couns advised as to GNZ's progress. McCormick