UKRAINE: GUAM AS A REGIONAL ORGANIZATION -- A TWO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 001324

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/30/2017
TAGS: PREL KDEM MARR RS AZ GG MD UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: GUAM AS A REGIONAL ORGANIZATION -- A TWO
YEAR PROCESS

REF: KYIV 756

Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,d)


1. (C) Summary: Executive Director of the GUAM Information
Office Heorhiy Nazarov acknowledged that the impasse over
scheduling early parliamentary elections had made it unlikely
that the parliament (Rada) would vote on the GUAM Charter
anytime soon. He said Ukraine's failure to ratify the GUAM
charter would not affect ongoing efforts to establish the
GUAM Secretariat in KYIV or the June 18-19 GUAM Summit.
Incoming GUAM Secretary General Chechelashvili would take up
his duties in KYIV in early June and could be accredited in
Ukraine simply by presenting a diplomatic note from Georgia
to the MFA Protocol Department. Although the permanent
Secretariat premises would not be ready until the end of

SIPDIS
2007, Chechelashvili's presence in Ukraine would speed the
process of setting up the Secretariat and transforming GUAM
into a regional organization. The Secretariat should be
operational in September. Nazarov was noncommittal when we
asked whether discussions about our future GUAM assistance
projects should be conducted through the Secretariat or
through the working groups, and noted that Azerbaijan is
particularly reluctant to change. Nevertheless, Nazarov
expects GUAM evolution towards a full-fledged operational
regional organization to continue under Azerbaijan's
presidency, but the process will most likely only be
finalized once the Georgians take over the presidency in

2008. End Summary.


2. (U) We met with the Executive Director of the GUAM
Information Office Heorhiy Nazarov and MFA Political
Department GUAM desk officer Victor Ponomariov May 18 to
discuss how the Ukrainian domestic political situation was
affecting plans to establish the GUAM Secretariat in KYIV and
the June 18 GUAM Summit in Baku. We also wanted to determine
if upcoming discussions regarding GUAM-related assistance
projects should be conducted through the Secretariat or
continue to be coordinated through the GUAM Working Groups,
i.e., to what degree GUAM remains an association of countries
versus a regional organization.

Lack of Charter Ratification Will Not Affect Secretariat
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Nazarov said that the Rada's failure to approve the
GUAM Charter would not affect plans to set up the Secretariat
in KYIV or plans for the GUAM Summit in Baku. He said the
Charter was issued as a presidential decree and has legal
force unless it is rejected by the Rada. Nazarov dismissed
suggestions that the Summit be postponed because of charter
ratification problems as "political speculation" and pointed
out that it would take one or two months to "formalize" the
Charter after the Rada passes it. Nazarov also said the text
on GUAM Privileges and Immunities had been finalized and
approved by 11 "central bodies of authority" that need to
sign-off on the document, although the Ministries of Finance,
Treasury, Communication, and Justice, and the State Customs
Services still needed to endorse the agreement. Nazarov
hinted that the hesitation was related to the current
political struggle but was confident that they would sign
soon. He also opined that since "the legal regime is not so
restrictive" the Privileges and Immunities document could be
signed at the Summit regardless of the actions of the three
ministries and the Customs Services.

GUAM SecGen Arriving by Early June, Summit On Track
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Nazarov said incoming GUAM Secretary General Valery
Chechelashvili was expected to take up his duties in KYIV in
early June - prior to the Baku Summit. He opined that
Chechelashvili's presence in KYIV would help speed up the
process of setting up the Secretariat and transforming GUAM
into a regional organization. Chechelashvili and Secretariat
staff from Azerbaijan and Moldova could be accredited in
Ukraine by presenting a diplomatic note from their respective
governments to the MFA Protocol Department. The Secretariat
premises would not be remodeled and ready until the end of
2007, however. Nazarov was searching for temporary office
space to house the Secretariat and expected it to start
functioning by September after his formal transfer from MFA
to GUAM and the arrival of an additional staff member from
Azerbaijan. Timing of the Moldovan staff member's arrival
was still unclear. (Note: Moldovan Embassy DCM Eugen Caras
told us the Moldovan member of the GUAM secretariat would be
a Moldovan diplomat currently assigned to the Moldovan
Embassy in Ukraine. The individual was likely to retain
Embassy-related, i.e., bilateral Moldova-Ukraine, duties. In
an earlier conversation Chechelashvili told us that he is not
in favor of this arrangement.)

KYIV 00001324 002 OF 002




5. (C) Nazarov said the preparations for the June 18-19
Summit were proceeding smoothly. Agreements on a budget of
about $500,000, on Privileges and Immunities for Secretariat
staff, and on joint cooperation in the field of nuclear and
radiation security should be signed at the Summit. Nazarov
also expected a Summit accord on international multi-modal
transportation of goods among GUAM states. Minutes of the
May 4-5 meeting of the Council of National Coordinators
provided by Nazarov also indicate that a draft statement
recognizing the 1932 - 1933 famine in Ukraine as an act of
genocide and a protocol on cultural cooperation would also be
agreed upon at the Summit.

GUAM Transformation Might Take Two Years
--------------


6. (C) Nazarov was noncommittal when we asked him whether
future discussions about U.S. assistance to GUAM should be
conducted, as now, through the Working Groups in the relevant
national capitals or through the Secretariat. He said
Ukraine and Georgia would like to conduct future negotiations
through the Secretariat, but Azerbaijan is uncomfortable with
the change, and Moldova is "on the fence." Nazarov opined
that this difference is indicative of the different levels of
commitment among the four GUAM states. We pointed out that
by definition the U.S. assistance to GUAM was for the
organization and not technically a four-way coordinated
bilateral program. We noted this would most likely be the
view of both Japan and the EU, if the latter opted to engage
the organization. Therefore, it was important operationally
and politically that GUAM establish an effective mechanism
for discussing cooperation on assistance, let alone other
issues. Despite Azerbaijan's more limited vision of GUAM as
a regional organization, Nazarov believed that under
Azerbaijan's presidency the organization would continue to
develop; but most likely GUAM would not take on the more
robust character of a regional organization that Georgia and
Ukraine hoped for until the 2008 Tblisi Summit and the
completion of "road maps" with the U.S., Japan, and the EU.


7. (U) Visit Embassy KYIV's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Taylor