SPAIN/GI PORTAL CONFERENCE: GOS WILL ENCOURAGE

UNCLAS MADRID 001607 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN/WMDT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER KGIC PARM PREL SP SUBJECT: SPAIN/GI PORTAL CONFERENCE: GOS WILL ENCOURAGE PARTNERS TO ATTEND BUT CANNOT PROVIDE ADDITIONAL FUNDING REF: STATE 114745 ¶1. Poloff delivered REFTEL request on August 16 to Ignacio Sanchez de Lerin, MFA DDG for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, to inquire whether Spain would be willing to conduct regional outreach with European GI partner nations to bolster attendance at the Garmisch conference. Poloff also inquired if Spain would be willing and able to fund GI partner nation representatives to attend the meeting. Sanchez was on summer holiday but responded on August 21. He said that his government would certainly lobby other partners to attend the GI Portal conference, but regretted that Spanish law does not allow the funding of foreign civil servants' travel unless covered by previous legal agreement. Sanchez said that he had looked into possibilities to bypass this regulation through extraordinary channels, but was not successful. He said that Spain looks forward to a productive series of meetings at the end of the month. AGUIRRE