BULGARIA: ARMS CONTROL UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000588 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2017 TAGS: PREL PARM ETTC CBW EU BU SUBJECT: BULGARIA: ARMS CONTROL UPDATE REF: A. STATE 64021 ¶B. STATE 63299 ¶C. STATE 58355 Classified By: Acting DCM Brad Freden, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). (C) We delivered reftel demarches to Ministry of Energy and Economy (MoEE) Export Control Chief Ivelina Bachevanova on May 14 and to Maria Yaneva at the MFA's Export Control office on May 15. We encouraged GoB experts to expedite preparation of the GoB's Annual Declaration under the Hague Code of Conduct (ref A) and made reftel B arguments against the proposed Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Bachevanova was sympathetic to our arguments against the ATT, acknowledging the futility of negotiating a new document which was unlikely to be consistently implemented by member states. Nevertheless, the GoB formally supports the ATT, in line with the EU's common position on the issue. We also delivered reftel C talking points on the upcoming meeting of the Australia Group, though GoB officials had little insight to share other than agreeing that Russia was obviously eager to join the Group. Karagiannis