EAP/ANP DIRECTOR MCGANN'S MEETINGS WITH GNZ:

C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000732 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR D (FRITZ),EAP/FO, EAP/RSP, AND EAP/ANP NSC FOR VICTOR CHA SECDEF FOR OSD/ISD JESSICA POWERS PACOM FOR J01E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ETRD NZ US SUBJECT: EAP/ANP DIRECTOR MCGANN'S MEETINGS WITH GNZ: PUTTING MEAT ON THE MATRIX'S BONES Classified By: DCM David J. Keegan, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: During September 13 meetings in Wellington, GNZ officials told EAP/ANP Director Steven McGann that PM Clark and NZ Ministers support greater US-NZ cooperation. McGann and his counterparts agreed that meetings over the coming months between both sides' leaders and senior officials will help keep things on track. The Kiwis said PM Clark hopes to meet with the President on the margins of November's APEC Summit and is considering a trip to Washington next year. McGann and the officials reviewed ways to move forward substantively on the notional matrix of areas for cooperation that both sides have developed since July's informal meeting in Bangkok. Emboffs will forward via e-mail a matrix reflecting these discussions once it has been reviewed with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials. Our preliminary summary of agreed actions begins below at paragraph 4. End Summary. -------------- Setting the Framework With DepDec McKinnon -------------- ¶2. (C) Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs John McKinnon told EAP/ANP Director Steven McGann that PM Clark and NZ Ministers have formally confirmed that they want to improve both the content and tone of US-NZ bilateral relations. They hope for a meeting "of some substance" between PM Clark and the President at the APEC summit as well as a possible Presidential visit to New Zealand after next year's APEC meetings in Sydney. McKinnon said that since Embassy Wellington's 2005 calls for renewed attention to the relationship and especially after A/S Hill's March visit to Wellington, GNZ has recognized the need to bring a greater level of trust to the relationship that will enable us to build on areas of common interest and more easily deal with disagreements. New Zealand is looking to next year's Antarctic anniversary celebrations as a good opportunity to demonstrate our cooperation. They hope that last June's Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) will pave the way for increased economic cooperation even if NZ's desire for a bilateral free trade agreement must remain unrealized over the shorter term. ¶3. (C) McGann said that in addition to leaders' meetings, senior working level visits are also crucial to articulate support for the broadening relationship and create the impetus for substantive leaders meetings. He said both sides need to ensure our contacts are not defined by good meetings in closed rooms and bad sound bites outside. McGann said he was in Wellington to help begin to identify concrete bilateral actions both sides can take to implement the draft matrix they drew up after informal talks in Bangkok last July. He pointed to his previous day's talks with GNZ about ways to cooperate around the Pacific Island Forum (septel) as a good example of the work that could be done. McKinnon said he is conscious of the need to move the process forward at all levels, and is willing to travel to Washington as needed. -------------- The Matrix: Security and other Cooperation -------------- ¶4. (C) McGann reviewed the Bangkok draft matrix during a session chaired by NZ Ambassador for Counterterrorism Dell Higgie that included representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), NZ Defence Force (NZDF),Ministry of Defence (MoD),Security Intelligence Service (SIS),Maritime New Zealand, and Police. The following is the U.S. side's understanding of matrix issues discussed and next steps. Embassy Wellington will work with MFAT to incorporate the agreed actions into an updated matrix which we will aim to submit to Washington for interagency clearance by September 22. -- Detail of NZ Police official Don Allen to Joint Interagency Task Force-West, U.S. Pacific Command: Allen is already in Honolulu. Both sides will examine how they might publicize Allen's assignment as an example of effective bilateral cooperation. Next step: NZ Police to consider how it might publicize the assignment. -- Signing of MOU to exchange terrorist screening information as part of HSPD-6: During July discussions in Washington, State's Consular Affairs provided SIS and NZ Emboffs with an initial response to technical issues raised by GNZ. SIS told McGann that the draft MOU provided by the U.S. side is a government-to-government agreement rather than a service-to-service agreement contained in a similar US-Australia arrangement. A government-to-government agreement creates complications for the NZ side, both because it raises privacy issues that an agreement between services would not (SIS is the only GNZ agency exempt from the country's privacy laws) and because a bi-government agreement would require a more complex GNZ approval process. As it works through MOU issues, GNZ ministries are also meeting soon to determine which ministry will house the data gateway, after which they will request allocations in next year's budget to fund the project. The Kiwis told McGann that both the MOU and bureaucratic issues can move in tandem, which should make it possible to sign the agreement by early next year if not by the January 1 notional target date. GNZ also asked whether GNZ would be able to get substantiating information about any hits made after the gateway was in place. SIS said that their understanding was that the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) would make a request for background information with the originating USG agency, and that agency would consult with its GNZ counterpart. McGann said US officials were still working through whether this would be the case. Higgie said that the agreement will not work for the GNZ side without such exchanges. Next Steps: U.S. to clarify if MOU must be government-to-government, and whether USG agencies will consult with NZ counterparts to provide substantiating information if the Terrorist Screening Center confirms an NZ hit in the system. NZ to identify a host ministry and budget for the gateway, and identify needed procedures to approve the agreement. -- U.S. Expansion of "working holiday" exchange visas for NZ and Australian Students from 4 to 12 months: Next steps: GNZ will coordinate with Australia to provide ECA with needed information in time for an announcement of the program's expansion during the World Youth and Student Travel Conference in Melbourne between October 10-15. -- U.S. Expansion of exchange visa program for primary and secondary school teachers: Next Steps: ECA to provide draft letters of agreement to New Zealand and Australia. -- NZ participation in DPRK "5 plus 5" framework on DPRK issues. GNZ confirmed to McGann that Foreign Minister Peters will attend the 5 plus 5 meeting on the margins of UNGA if it goes forward. Next steps: MFAT to confirm other GNZ attendees. -- NZ Joins the IMO "Alameda Group": Amb. Higgie and Russell Kilvington of Maritime New Zealand said they thought GNZ would be able to attend the Alameda Group Meeting in Kuala Lumpur the week of September 18. (NB: MFAT has since confirmed that NZ's Deputy High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur, Felicity Bloor, and the NZ Defence Attache in K-L, Steve Streefkerk, will attend the meeting.) They said that NZ had not yet received the regional assistance matrix GNZ would need to fill out before the meeting. Next Steps: U.S. side to provide assistance matrix to Maritime New Zealand and MFAT. -- Staff Level Discussions on 50th Anniversary of U.S.-New Zealand Antarctic Cooperation: At a follow-on meeting on September 14 after Director McGann had left New Zealand (reported septel),NZ officials told DCM and EAP/ANP Officer Alisa Wong that GNZ tentatively agreed to talks in Washington October 11-12. The NZ delegation will probably include Lou Sanson, Head of Antarctic New Zealand; MoD's Huntley Wright; MFAT's Trevor Hughes; and NZ Ambassador Roy Ferguson. Next Steps: US and NZ to confirm Oct.11-12 Washington meeting. -- Coordination prior to October 27-28 Pacific Island Forum's Post-Forum Dialogue (PFD): McGann noted he had begun discussions about US-NZ PFD coordination during a September 12 with MFAT's Pacific Division Director Heather Riddell (septel). Deputy Director of MFAT America's Division, Gabrielle Rush, said MFAT Deputy Director Alan Williams hopes to travel to Washington shortly after the PFD. Next Steps: USG and GNZ to continue to coordinate in lead up to PFD. Both sides to exchange information after the PIF/PFD meetings during Alan Williams' trip to Washington. -- Enhanced information exchange on wider Asia/Pacific strategic issues. Next Steps: Both sides agreed to try to arrange senior officials' bilaterals on margins of multilateral fora, including UNGA and possibly APEC -- Increased informal consultations between U.S. and NZ Embassies in the Asia Pacific Region: Next steps: US and NZ to draft messages to their missions in the region asking them to consult on transnational threats affecting the Pacific Island Countries and other issues of mutual concern. -- Informal, working-level consultations between NZ and U.S. defense officials: Ian Hill, NZ's DCM in Washington, told McGann that during during the recent trip to Washington of Vice Chair of the Defence Force David Bamfield, Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman had endorsed the idea of SIPDIS informal US-NZ exchanges. As a first step, OSD Desk Officer for New Zealand Liz Phu had asked NZ to provide her with a matrix of current and planned NZDF activities. Wayne Higgins and Group Captain Gore, NZDF, and MoD's Andrew Weirzbicki told McGann that they had already provided a master list of NZDF activities to Embassy Wellington DATT Martinez which can be used as a basis for the matrix. They will also add to this list planned equipment upgrades and major exercises. Higgins said discussions about these activities could provide a useful way to identify possible areas for cooperation. He added that it would be helpful for New Zealand to know in advance what kinds of joint excercises (including in support of peacekeeping operations) were likely to cause difficulty for DoD, rather than just discussing each exercise on a case-by-case basis. McGann noted that any U.S. decisions on this issue would be made by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Next Steps: NZDF and MoD to complete lists of current and future activities and provide to OSD, with copies to EAP/ANP Director McGann and Embassy Wellington. GNZ will also provide a proposal for advance coordination between U.S. and New Zealand officials regarding planned and projected joint peacekeeping and stability operations. -- Expanded bilateral engagement during "Quadrilateral" (U.S., NZ, Australia, France) meetings: Next steps: MoD to develop and provide to US side points they would want to see discussed if NZ participates in next year's Quad meeting. -- Expansion of existing relationships into a broader counter-terrorism framework with Australia, Canada, and the UK: The Kiwi side told McGann that NZ has robust bilateral intelligence relationships with all four parties, and that it would make sense to participate (as opposed to observe) in 5-i's assessment meetings. Ambassador Higgie said GNZ believes the "ball is in the U.S. court" on this. Next Steps: GNZ will provide its proposal on 5-i's participation to Dan Coulter at the National Counter-terrorism Center. -- Extended engagement between the U.S. and New Zealand on Maritime Security, Maritime Law Enforcement, and Antarctic Search and Rescue operations: McGann noted that during meetings in Hawaii the previous week, he had discussed these proposals with Admmiral Bryce O'Hara of the Coast Guard and JIATF-W. OSD would need to issue separate waivers for each of three proposals. Next Steps: OSD has invited the Coast Guard to submit waivers for these three proposals. -- Coordination of South Pacific/Southern Ocean air and maritime patrols and information sharing: During the discussions, the GNZ side realized that this request might already be covered by the items on the Quadrilateral meeting and informal mil-mil consultations. Next Step: GNZ to reapproach USG after taking stock of how this would fit into the proposals for Quadrilateral and informal military discussions. -------------- MOVING THE PROCESS FORWARD -------------- ¶5. (C) McGann and Higgie agreed that both sides will consider a "Bangkok 2" meeting between both ministries to take stock of progress. They said this should take place no later than March 2007, but agreed that senior level meetings on the margins of other multilateral meetings could also provide opportunities to assess where things are headed as well as to identify other possible areas of cooperation. The Pacific Island Forum meetings in October will probably provide the next opportunity for senior official discussions. Depending on the agenda, GNZ may send officials to Nandi to meet with A/S Hill and other USG counterparts. McCormick