AZERBAIJAN INTERESTED IN JOINING INITIATIVE TO

UNCLAS BAKU 000367 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/WMDT AND T E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER KNNP MCAP PINR PINS PARM PREL SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN INTERESTED IN JOINING INITIATIVE TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM REF: STATE 21535 ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 3. ¶2. (SBU) Poloff delivered REF information about the "Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism" on March 30, to Azerbaijani MFA Security Affairs Department officers. The officers said that the MFA was interested in the initiative, and asked for more information regarding the 2007-2008 "work plan," noting that the Russian government had also provided the MFA identical information on the "statement of principles" in the Russian-language about this initiative, which also included a "work plan" for 2007-2008 and statements that were made at the previous two meetings of the initiative in Rabat and Ankara. MFA officers said that they were interested in the proposal, and that it would likely involve coordinating several areas of the Azerbaijani government. The MFA asked if we could provide them similar information about the "work plan" in English. ¶3. (SBU) Comment and action request: Because we did not receive REFTEL instructions until several weeks after they were released by the Department, we did not coordinate our approach with the Russian Embassy. We will compare notes on Azerbaijan's response to the initiative, and will report further developments septel. In the meantime, we would appreciate any further information from the Department on the "work plan" presented by the Russians. DERSE