1540: COMMITTEE DISCUSSES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE,

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000729 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL AORC KPAO PTER UNSC KNNP SUBJECT: 1540: COMMITTEE DISCUSSES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, OUTREACH, WEBSITE REF: KONZET/SANDAGE EMAIL--09/05/07 ¶1. BEGIN SUMMARY: At its August 29 meeting, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) ("1540 Committee") discussed its work program, technical assistance, outreach efforts, and a letter from Ambassador Khalilzad and Portuguese PermRep Salgueiro (on behalf of the European Union),requesting the Committee to post a 1540-related excerpt from the U.S.-EU Summit Declaration on its website. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) Committee members agreed in principal to the Chairman's proposal to extend the Committee's current work program through the end of the Committee's mandate in April ¶2008. Members did not oppose Russia's proposal to add language extending the contracts of the group of experts through the end of the Committee's mandate. The revised work program has been circulated for approval under a silence procedure that expires Thursday, September 6, at 5 p.m. (ref). ¶3. (U) The Committee continued to discuss proposals concerning its role in facilitating technical assistance. South Africa and China continue to question a draft decision to task the Committee's experts to form a network of 1540-related assistance managers and 1540 substantive experts, as well as to post information on 1540-related events worldwide on the Committee's website. South Africa seemed satisfied by the experts' explanation that the networks would be purely voluntary and would be designed to provide states seeking assistance more resources for getting it, but asked that the draft decision be revised to clarify the purpose behind the proposal. ¶4. (U) On outreach, the Committee's experts briefed the Committee on their August 15 meeting at the Department concerning U.S. technical assistance programs, calling the briefings informative and useful. They hoped other donors might set up similar briefings in New York. ¶5. (SBU) During a brief discussion of plans to update the Committee's website, Russia asked how the Committee would react to the July 27 letter from Ambassador Khalilzad and Portuguese PermRep Salgueiro (on behalf of the European Union). That letter expresses support for having the Committee post its matrices on its website and asks the Committee to post an excerpt of the U.S.-EU Summit's Declaration on Promoting Peace, Human Rights, and Democracy Worldwide. The excerpt reaffirms the urgency of implementing WMD proliferation financing measures required by resolutions 1540, 1718, 1737, and 1747. Russia said it would not object to posting the letter in the section of the website where national reports are placed, but expressed concerns about posting the letter elsewhere and called for the Committee to develop procedures for posting documents on its website. Note: On August 30, South Africa's 1540 expert told USUN that the U.S./EU letter heightens its concerns about the proposal to post the matrices. Asking why the United States would be concerned enough about posting the matrices to demarche in 15 capitals, he speculated that the United States sees posting the matrices as a way to compel states to enforce more aggressive financial sanctions against proliferation financing -- something South Africa would resist. USUN reiterated that posting the matrices is important for transparency and as a means to promote the delivery of technical assistance. End Note. KHALILZAD