USCBP DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER AUDREY ADAMS'

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000159 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD AJ EAIR SNAR EXBS SUBJECT: USCBP DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER AUDREY ADAMS' VISIT TO AZERBAIJAN Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse, reasons 1.4 (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) Deputy Assistant Commissioner Audrey Adams and a three person delegation visited Azerbaijan from January 15-18, 2007. They held conversations with the State Border Service and State Customs Committee on possibilities for enhanced cooperation. The most important result of the meeting was the agreement in principle by the State Customs Committee to accept and fund a U.S. CBP Advisors to work with the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee on helping to modernize the Azerbaijani Customs Service. A similar offer was politely turned down by the SBS. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) USCBP Deputy Assistant Commissioner for International Affairs Audrey Adams, accompanied by three U.S. Customs officials, along with Ambassador and EXBS Baku Director, met with Azerbaijani Customs officials and State Border Service officials on January 15-18. The meetings were introductory in nature and expressed the desire, especially on the customs side, to deepen the strategic and operational relationship with the U.S. CBP service. The group also visited the Samur and Shirvanovka border crossings on the Azerbaijan-Dagestan border, the Silk Road terminal, the State Border Service Air Wing, the Customs Training facility, and a cargo and passenger ferry terminal. CUSTOMS -------------- ¶3. (C) State Customs Committee Chairman Aydin Aliyev, accompanied by a large delegation of nine senior Customs officials, warmly received Adams on January 15 and signaled a genuine desire to deepen the level of cooperation between the U.S. and Azerbaijani Customs Services. Included on the Azerbaijani side were several Customs officers responsible for information technology, as well as Aliyev,s chief of internal affairs, Rovshan Mustayev, who is responsible for granting clearances or investigating corruption in the Customs service. The inclusion of these people in the delegation was notable as it seemed to send a signal that Aliyev wants to modernize his service through technology and work against corruption. Meetings with the customs service usually do not include such a large number of people from the Azerbaijani side. ¶4. (SBU) During the meeting, Adams presented the idea of having a U.S. CBP advisor cooperate directly with Azerbaijani Customs and advise on issues of modernization, technology, etc. The goal of the advisor would be to make customs more efficient and to keep the supply chain uninterrupted; Adams noted that the advisor program would be similar to USCBP programs in other countries. She also noted that such an advisory program would be fully reimbursable by the GOAJ. ¶5. (SBU) Aliyev did not respond directly to Adams' proposal to provide a U.S. CBP advisor full-time in Azerbaijan in the January 15 meeting but he talked about his goals for the service, which include (a) implementing the new Customs Code; (b) making investigations more efficient; (c) increasing transparency; (d) modernizing equipment; (e) enhancing security; (f) enhancing and increasing the level of training and education of Customs officers through the establishment of a Customs Academy; and (g) signing of a customs mutual assistance agreement with the U.S. ¶6. (C) Aliyev said that his "dream" would be to have the customs and border services operating as one unit as in the U.S., but that this did not seem to be in Azerbaijan's immediate future. Aliyev mentioned the importance of U.S. assistance in helping Azerbaijan join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Aliyev admitted that his goals for Customs were ambitious and said that making progress in Azerbaijan's political-social climate was difficult. He complained about the opposition parties, particularly opposition newspapers, which he said were rife with untruths and innuendo about Customs. He noted the President Ilham Aliyev is about to approve a new state program for strengthening customs. ¶7. (SBU) During a final meeting on January 18, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan would be interested in having potentially 2-3 U.S. CBP advisors along the lines outlined by Adams. Adams BAKU 00000159 002 OF 002 promised to pull together a proposal and present it to Aliyev. STATE BORDER SERVICE -------------- ¶8. (C) The delegation also met with the State Border Service (SBS) on January 15, where a meeting was held with SBS Chairman Elchin Guliyev and Deputy Chairman Farhad Tagizadeh. Guliyev presented a general overview of the SBS and mentioned the pressures that Azerbaijan was under as a result of refugees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Guliyev described a situation where there were several million refugees fleeing Iraq and Afghanistan and putting pressure on the Azerbaijani border. Guliyev mentioned that the SBS has cooperation with the European Union; European Commission; Germany, Hungary and Poland (training) and with Turkey. However, he added that the level of U.S. assistance was larger than all other countries combined. ¶9. (C) Guliyev met again with Adams on January 18 to provide Adams with a briefing on Azerbaijan,s border security. The briefing surveyed a range of Azerbaijan,s border security issues, including the outstanding status of Caspian Sea delimitation, "aggressive separatism" from Armenia, human trafficking, weapons smuggling, and drugs transiting across Azerbaijan's territory. Guliyev also claimed that Armenia backs training camps for "international terrorism" in the occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. Guliyev specified that since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, approximately two million people have moved from Afghanistan and Iraq through Azerbaijan. (No further information provided.) ¶10. (SBU) In response to Adams, suggestion of an on-site U.S. CBP advisor at the SBS, Guliyev said the proposal was "very interesting," but noted that the SBS does not have the legal authority to engage in this type of cooperation. ¶11. (C) COMMENT: We welcome and appreciate the U.S. CBP,s interest in expanding its bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan and its offer to develop a proposal for a fully reimbursable Customs Advisor Program in Azerbaijan. Such a program would help reform Azerbaijan,s Customs operations and greatly advance our anti-corruption goals; it also could serve as a model for new co-financing arrangements for our bilateral technical assistance programs. However, the most important value added would be the long-term benefits of helping to stem the flow of drugs and other strategic proliferation-related materials thought Azerbaijan. Embassy believes that it would be essential for such a position to be co-located with in the Azerbaijani Customs service building and that the designee(s) be a fluent Azerbaijani or preferably Russian speakers. ¶12. (U) Adams did not have the opportunity to clear this message prior to departing Baku. DERSE