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