1. On January 3, Emboff informed Mani Bhattarai, Section
Officer for UN and International Organizations at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), of the postponement of the
detection architecture model guidelines workshop (Ref A) and
the entry of four additional partner nations into the Global
Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (Ref B). Bhattarai
asked how many countries were now part of the Global
Initiative and whether the United States would provide
funding for partner nation travel to the workshop. Bhattarai
said the government of Nepal (GON) did not have the money to
send anyone to the workshop, but perhaps resources for
similar events would be allocated in the fiscal year
beginning in July 2008. The Section Officer also commented
that his government would have been unlikely to participate
because the new event date was too close to Nepal's planned
Constituent Assembly election in April.

Comment


--------------------------





2. Bhattarai told Emboff the GON had yet to select a Global
Initiative point of contact, and Emboff could continue to
deliver updates to him. Post does not expect the host
government to designate a technical expert any time soon,
should one exist. The MFA has been receptive to receiving
information about the Global Initiative, but it is clearly a
low priority.
POWELL