CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP-UP FOR THE

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000448 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN) NSC FOR LEDDY WINPAC FOR WALTER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL CWC SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 9 This is CWC-23-07. -------------- ARTICLE VII -------------- ¶1. (U) Facilitator Maarten Lak (Netherlands) presided over his final Article VII consultations. Delegations congratulated him for his work over the past year. Amb. Onate (Legal Adviser) then gave a brief summary of the Progress Report (EC-48/DG.10 27 Feb. 2007) noting that the cut-off for new information had been 16 Feb. 2007. Portugal reported that it had seen progress that had not been included: the Council of Ministers had received legal opinions from all constituent agencies and is expected to approve the legislation by early April. It then will be forwarded to Parliament with a note recommending that it act with urgency. ¶2. (U) Magda Bauta (Chief, IPB) then made an excellent presentation on IPB's plan of activities for 2007 (faxed to ISN/CB). At this point, the TS has received 34 (see fax) requests for assistance in 2007 with 15 at the stage of planning visit dates. All will receive targeted assistance in 2007. The branch plans a number of regional and sub-regional meetings as well as training courses for National Authorities. Some will meet special requests (e.g., customs workshops),a number are targeted for Parliamentarians who can support implementing efforts when draft legislation is in Parliament. ¶3. (U) Bauta's presentation was followed by Sergey Kisselev's demonstration of the "Electronic Self-Learning Tool for NAs." The tool is a basic application that allows its users to study specific topics and to test themselves afterwards. It currently is available in English only, but versions in all official languages will be available later this spring. The tool also was distributed to attendees at the National Authority Days prior to the 11th Conference of States Parties. The presentations were followed by a long, painful discussion with Iran questioning the TS' plans to train Parliamentarians on the CWC and its requirements. ¶4. (U) Outreach and Assistance. France noted that Paris had just completed the latest running of its basic course for National Authority members, and Australia/Japan gave a brief summary of the results of the industry outreach session just concluded in Jakarta. Australia announced that on 2 March its National Authority sent a team to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to train its National Authority on preparations to host inspections. This probably will be followed up with a session for Malaysian experts in Canberra. Australia also noted that it might be able to provide implementation assistance to Cambodia, the Republic of the Philippines, and Vietnam. -------------- ARTICLE VII OUTREACH - THE PADILLA INITIATIVE -------------- ¶5. (U) Based on discussions from the March 6 WEOG meeting, discussions with Amb. Lak and Amb. Onate, the March 8 Article VII meeting, and recent TS reporting, the following new information on outreach efforts to the States Parties of most concern under the Padilla initiative is available: -- As a follow-up to France's mention of its plans to demarche certain States Parties regarding Article VII, Amb. Lak encouraged other delegations to do the same. -- Japan renewed its interest in working with the Philippines toward an industry outreach seminar in Manila this year. -- Based on the success of their joint efforts with Japan in Jakarta, Australia is also pursuing participation in the Manila seminar. Once Japan and Australia have talked through more details, they will let the Del know if there is anything particular that they see as needed from the U.S. in support of this seminar. -- The TS appears to have conducted technical assistance visits (TAV) in Azerbaijan and Ecuador in the first quarter of this year. The Del will determine if other SPs were involved that can provide appropriate follow-up. (Note: Germany had expressed early interest in Ecuador and may have been involved in the TAV.) -- The TS has TAVs planned for 2007 in: Georgia, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Tajikistan, and the UAE. Del will investigate the timing and details of these to see if any other assistance is needed. -- The TS is planning regional and sub-regional meetings in: Kuwait for GCC States (April/May); Chile for Latin American National Authorities (NA)(May); Belarus for Eastern European NAs (June); Qatar for Asian NAs (September); and for African NAs (October). -- The TS is planning specialized regional and sub-regional workshops in: Argentina for training Latin American and Caribbean national inspection escorts (April); Croatia for Eastern European customs officials (April); Vietnam for Asian customs officials (April); Mali for a legal workshop for central/western Africa (June); South Africa for an implementation workshop for senior policy makers and parliamentarians (July); Zambia for SADC States' customs officials (July); Palau for a legal workshop for the Pacific Island States (August); and an Article VI seminar for Asian SPs (September). -- There are various NA training courses going on throughout the year in the UK and France, as well as special ones for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking SPs. -- The TS is planning parliamentarian meetings in: Sri Lanka for Asian SPs (June); Peru (attended by DG and Amb. Onate at the request of Peru),to coincide with their legislation going to parliament (June); and Colombia for Latin America and the Caribbean (July),with several parliamentary organizations invited. -------------- -------------- INDUSTRY CLUSTER - ARTICLE VI RISK AND INSPECTION FREQUENCY -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) As a result of the protracted debate on the 2007 program and budget, the Executive Council "decided to undertake discussions, under the industry cluster, in 2007, with the assistance of relevant experts of the Secretariat and States Parties, on the main issues related to the implementation of the verification regime established by Article VI of the Convention, including, inter alia, the frequency of inspections of the different categories of the facilities to be inspected as required by the Convention." With this in mind, Ambassador Dastis (Spain) chaired a second meeting on this topic on March 7. The meeting was attended by the DDG. ¶7. (U) In his opening remarks, the DDG mentioned that the TS was preparing two documents relevant to this topic: (1) a detailed paper on Schedule 2 plant sites; and (2) a development of Supporting Information Papers Nos. 6 and 7 (developed for the fall 2006 budget consultations),which will include a wider framework/analysis and a legal analysis. The Schedule 2 document has been given first priority by the DG. Both documents are expected to be released within a matter of weeks, well in advance of EC-49. ¶8. (U) Bill Kane (Industry Verification) briefly discussed the "Article VI Inspections: Select Bibliography" which the TS prepared and made available on March 1. In response to a SIPDIS question from Italy, Kane pointed out that the only decisions cited are: C-I/DEC.32 and Annex, dated 16 May 1997 (Schedule 2); C-I/DEC.33 and Annex, dated 16 May 1997 (Schedule 2); and EC-XVII/DEC.7, dated 1 December 1999 (Schedule 3). He also pointed out that all of the documents referenced in the bibliography are now available on the external server. ¶9. (U) Iran (along with India and Cuba) asked whether the TS could prepare a document that would provide some questions regarding the issue in order to jump start discussions. The DDG clearly stated that the TS relies on SPs to frame the questions to be addressed by the TS. However, he said that the topics raised by delegates during these meetings would be addressed by the TS in their upcoming documents. Later in the meeting, Mexico offered to prepare a non-paper for consideration of other delegates and the TS, as they prepare their upcoming documents. ¶10. (U) South Africa (along with Mexico) asked for the TS's current thoughts on risk assessment and how the TS sees the resulting allocation of inspections in the out-years. This led to a discussion about the role of risk assessment as laid out in the CWC for Schedules 1 and 2 only. The DDG was also quick to point out that their projections for inspections in the out-years are handled in detail as part of the year-to-year budget process. ¶11. (U) Mexico said that, although the documents referenced in the bibliography are very useful, many appear to be in need of updating. In particular, a comprehensive document on the order of EC-XXII/TS.1, dated 6 October 2000, which was expanded to include Schedules 1 and 3 would be helpful. Dastis suggested that, as many of the previous documents were prepared for the First RevCon, perhaps some could be updated in preparation for the Second RevCon. ¶12. (U) Mexico also pointed to the need to make the selection process for Schedule 3 and OCPF random, keeping in mind the weighting factors mentioned in the CWC. Mexico also pointed out that, in 2005, GRULAC SPs had declared 3.5 percent of OCPF plant sites and yet received 15 percent of the OCPF inspections. ¶13. (U) Dastis stated his intention to report the outcome of these two meetings to the Colombian ambassador (vice-chair of the industry cluster) for his consideration in preparation for EC-48. ¶14. (U) Javits sends. ARNALL