IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS SEAT - INFORMING BANGLADESH

S E C R E T DHAKA 000794 SIPDIS ISN/RA FOR ARIEL STUKALIN IO/T FOR HEATHER VON BEHREN E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2018 TAGS: IAEA KNNP KZ SY AORC BG SUBJECT: IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS SEAT - INFORMING BANGLADESH REF: REF: STATE 77758 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i., Geeta Pasi, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) On July 27, Acting Pol-Econ Counselor met with Samia Anjum, Senior Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Americas and Pacific Wing, to convey reftel points and urge Bangladesh to support Kazakhstan,s bid of Board of Governors seat at the IAEA. We reviewed Kazakhstan's strong record of non-proliferation, the fact that no Central Asian country had previously held the Middle East and South Asia (MESA) seat on the IAEA Board of Governors, the ongoing investigation of Syria's violation of its IAEA Safeguards Agreement, and the number of times that Syria had held a seat on the IAEA. Ms. Anjum was unaware of the issue but said she would raise the matter with appropriate colleagues. ¶2. (S) In addition, the Charge d,Affaires a.i. spoke to Shabbir Ahmed Chowdhury, Director General (DG) of the Americas and Pacific Wing, to underscore the importance of the issue to the USG. (Note: Both the Foreign Affairs Adviser and the Foreign Secretary are out of the country.) The DG promised to follow up and provide an update. Pasi