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.

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ARTICLE VII
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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.

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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.

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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