BSEC SEEKS ADDITIONAL U.S. COOPERATION ON

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000140 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECIN ENIV KPAO PREL SENV TU SUBJECT: BSEC SEEKS ADDITIONAL U.S. COOPERATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES REF: ISTANBUL 854 ¶1. (SBU) Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Environmental Working Group representatives greatly appreciated U.S. support of the September 2007 BSEC Environmental Symposium (reftel) and requested the U.S. government sponsor similar symposiums to be held in tandem with future BSEC Environmental Working Group meetings. At a Working Group meeting in Istanbul on March 18, the Turkish representative stated that the September 2007 Symposium made the BSEC Environmental Working Group meeting, which was held imediatitly before the Symosium, the most successful ever. The rich content provided by the U.S. delegation headed by EUR DAS Colleen Graffy contributed substance to the BSEC representatives who would otherwise generally only debate administrative issues. Moreover, the BSEC representatives appreciated the follow-up DVD created by the Consulate's Public Affairs Office. The March BSEC Environmental Working added to their agenda that future meetings should be held "back-to-back with BSEC-US Environmental Symposiums". The U.S. observer to the BSEC Environmental Working noted the U.S. would like to continue such cooperation, but needed to report back to the working group regarding what level of sponsorship that the U.S. could provide. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: U.S. support for such a future Symposium would maintain the momentum created last September. All the BSEC representatives were positive about USG involvement, including the Russian representative who chaired one of the sessions. The BSEC Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) in Istanbul has the capacity to co-host a symposium of about 50 attendees, yet lacks the funds needed to support travel for attendees. The two-day September conference cost involved approximately $40,000 in USG support. Mission Turkey stands ready to assist future BSEC-U.S. conferences; however Washington would need to fully fund these events. WIENER