CYPRUS: GLOBAL MARITIME PARTNERSHIPS (GMP)

UNCLAS NICOSIA 000354 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SE AND EEB/TRA/OTP (HAYWOODDR),PM/ISO (FREDERICKJD) AND OSD (DGRUBER) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EWWT EAID ECIN ECON EFIS MARR MCAP MOPS PHSA PINS PREL, SMIG, SENV, SNAR, ASEC, CY SUBJECT: CYPRUS: GLOBAL MARITIME PARTNERSHIPS (GMP) REF: STATE 50488 (U) This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 12. ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY. Per reftel request, on May 15 Post delivered demarches on the Global Maritime Partnership (GMP) initiative to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Communications and Works at the ministerial level. We followed up with meetings at the working level with officials in the Department of Merchant Shipping (DMS) and the Cyprus Shipping Chamber, Cyprus' largest shipping NGO. Initial feedback from our interlocutors has been positive but the open-ended nature of GMP has made their responses similarly general. Post recommends developing a concrete proposal based on the areas of interest shown by the Cypriot officials. END SUMMARY. DMS Offers Tentative Support -------------- ¶3. (SBU) We met with DMS Director Serghios Serghiou on May 28 to gauge his interest in GMP and how Cyprus might utilize such a program. He responded that Cyprus would be interested, potentially, in cooperation with the United States and other nations against piracy on the high seas and in specific trouble areas. He noted that, to date, there is no organized international system to deal with piracy on a global scale. Instead, there are special agreements for cooperation in specific trouble areas, e.g. information-sharing for piracy in the Malacca straits. However, many other trouble spots would benefit from an expanded and improved international system to deal with this problem. Cooperation towards this end, he added, could take the form of a bilateral agreement with the United States. The agreement could be expanded to cover other issues, such as illegal migration or cigarette smuggling. ¶4. (SBU) Serghiou clarified that other Government of Cyprus (GOC) departments would have to get involved in addition to the DMS, depending on the exact nature of GMP cooperation. For example, the GOC Marine Police and Police Headquarters (under the Ministry of Justice and Public Order) have responsibility for narcotics trafficking and security issues and the Department of Fisheries (under the Ministry of Agriculture) in fisheries law enforcement. In addition, the MFA would have to give its blessing and act as the coordinator for cooperation under the GMP. Post will follow up directly with the MFA now that interest from the key Cypriot maritime players has been secured. ¶5. (SBU) By way of background, Serghiou noted that Cyprus and the United States already cooperate closely on a broad spectrum of maritime issues, starting with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and extending to cooperation under the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI); the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER); and the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. He also recalled past cooperation with US Customs officials on interdicting cigarette smuggling in the Eastern Mediterranean, and that at least two DMS marine investigators have received training in the United States through the American Bureau of Shipping. ¶6. (SBU) Serghiou also commented that, typically, multilateral cooperation, such as under the IMO, needed to have a sufficiently broad scope, whereas bilateral cooperation lent itself better to more targeted cooperation on specific issues of interest to the two parties. It was this specificity that Serghiou believed could be most useful to Cyprus. CSC Also Supportive -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Post also met with Thomas Kazakos, General Secretary of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) on May 16 to promote the idea of a GMP. Cyprus' largest shipping NGO, the CSC is a private organization, formed in 1989, promoting the interests of its members and of Cyprus shipping in general. The Chamber today comprises all the major shipowning, shipmanagement and shipping-related companies based in Cyprus, (including many non-Cypriot firms,) thus making it one of the largest national shipping associations in the world. The 140 corporate members of the Chamber own and/or manage from Cyprus, 2168 vessels exceeding 42.9 million gross tons. ¶10. (SBU) Kazakos embraced the idea of GMP from the start and undertook presenting it to his Board members. On May 27, they got back to us with a letter stating: QUOTE: We would like to congratulate the US Government on proposing this new initiative. We believe that in today's world, problems can be solved easier and assistance where required can be offered in a speedier and more efficient way, through cooperation and partnerships among not only Governments but also everybody involved in the maritime industry. We would therefore like to express the Cyprus Shipping Chamber's support and cooperation on this initiative and we would welcome discussing further details about our participation whenever the need arises. Furthermore areas identified by our Members, which the US Government also identified, where common activities could be undertaken are Maritime Security Training, Coastal and Border Security, Incident Management, Pollution Control, (and) Maritime Domain Awareness. END QUOTE. How to Move Forward -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Post believes that a good first step towards forging a GMP would be for both Cyprus and the United States to identify and agree on specific areas of bilateral cooperation. Once this is done, the logistics of practical implementation details can be worked out. Ideally, throughout this process, there should be clearly-identified points of contact (offices and persons) on both ends. ¶12. (SBU) Action Request: Post requests guidance from Washington agencies on how to proceed, given Cyprus' tentative interest. Specific suggestions on how to move the process forward and what other countries are doing would be particularly useful. SCHLICHER