TURKMENISTAN: NATO CIVIL EMERGENCY PLANNING

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000271 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN AID/W FOR EE/EA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID MARR NATO TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: NATO CIVIL EMERGENCY PLANNING OFFICIALS BRIEF ASHGABAT EMBASSIES REF: ASHGABAT 0261 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) Two officials from NATO's Civil Emergency Planning Operations Division, Division Head Carsten Fausboll and Staff Officer Evert Somer, briefed representatives from NATO embassies on February 18 on their meeting with Deputy Defense Minister Atabayev. They said President Berdimuhamedov had discussed civil emergency planning as an area of cooperation when he met with the NATO Secretary General in Brussels in November 2007. Although positive about cooperation, Fausboll said the top-down way the government works in Turkmenistan would hamper moving forward on civil emergency planning, and NATO's role is not to improve the Turkmen system. NATO could assist with civil emergency planning, but Turkmen officials would need to establish their own priorities. ¶3. (SBU) Fausboll said Atabayev asked for assistance in the following areas: earthquake, chemical disasters (especially when transporting chemicals),avian influenza, flooding and mudslides (reftel),and how to inform the public about disasters. Fausboll said NATO would be prepared to assist in those areas. He described Atabayev as surprisingly open and outspoken and not at all reluctant to talk. He said he was surprised that Atabayev did not ask for money or equipment, as many government officials do, but only for training. ¶4. (SBU) Somer said he saw a number of positive signs that bode well for cooperation with Turkmenistan. Atabayev asked for advice and seemed to value expertise. The deputy defense minister said the Turkmen had knowledge of how to deal with disasters, but it was based on practice from the time of the Soviet Union or on models from former Soviet Union countries. Atabayev said Turkmenistan needed to learn from a variety of views and experiences. ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: Through CENTCOM's annual military-to-military contact program, the U.S. military already has worked with the Turkmenistan Ministries of Defense and Internal Affairs for several years in the area of civil emergency preparedness and response. In 2008 alone, information exchanges on firefighting, urban search and rescue, aerial search and rescue, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil emergency planning survey, and the New Hampshire Civil Military Emergency Preparedness (CNEP) program are either completed or planned. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works with the Turkmenistan government on avian flu and pandemic disease issues. Given Turkmenistan's willingness to engage with other countries in this area and Atabayev's receptiveness, emergency preparedness may be a promising area for continued U.S. assistance -- as well as a way for Turkmen officials to become more comfortable with NATO. HOAGLAND