ROMANIA READY TO SIGN SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE MOU

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 000586 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NCE AND L/EUR STATE PASS TO DOE/NNSA NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PARM PGOV RO SUBJECT: ROMANIA READY TO SIGN SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE MOU ¶1. (SBU) The Embassy received a note verbale on July 23, stating that the GOR is prepared to sign the "Agreement between the Romanian Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform and the U.S. Department of Energy Regarding cooperation in the Area of Preventing the Illicit Trafficking of Nuclear Substances and other Radioactive Material." The Agreement, which establishes a memorandum of understanding under the National Nuclear Security Administration's Second Line of Defense program, has cleared the final bureaucratic hurdles, and the Prime Minister has granted the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform (MIRA) the authority to sign the agreement. The note verbale (scanned copy emailed to EUR/NCE and NNSA) requests a short signing ceremony between MIRA Minister Cristian David and the Ambassador to be held July 31. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: The SLD MOU has been in play for nearly 3 years and after having cleared the "internal processes" of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Finance, it is finally ready to be signed. Minister David's rush is to put the MOU to bed before he heads for his summer break, which could delay entry-into-force until September. An accelerated final approval from Washington would be much appreciated. The draft MOU's (in English and Romanian) have been forwarded to EUR/NCE and NNSA/SLD. End comment. TAUBMAN