UNGA: CYPRUS SUPPORTS FIRST COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS

UNCLAS NICOSIA 000710 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR VCI (SALLY HORN AND JULIE CONNOR); ISN (WILLIAM MENOLD) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL UNGA CY SUBJECT: UNGA: CYPRUS SUPPORTS FIRST COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS ON NON-PRO, DISARMAMENT AGREEMENTS REF: SECSTATE 87531 ¶1. (SBU) Per reftel, PolOff on September 2 demarched MFA Multilateral Affairs officer Panayiotis Papadopoulos regarding the USG's proposed UN General Assembly First Committee (UNFC) resolution on Compliance with Non-Proliferation, Arms Limitation and Disarmament Agreements. Papadopoulos stated that since the GOC had co-sponsored UNGA 60/55, a similar resolution adopted three years ago, he saw no reason why Cyprus would not support, or even co-sponsor, the current UNFC effort. He promised to forward the draft resolution to the Cypriot PermRep in New York for further consideration. ¶2. (SBU) After the demarche, Papadopoulos called PolOff and said that Cyprus was concerned with the phrase "contrary to international obligations" in the eighth paragraph of the proposed resolution. He offered that the phrase was "bizarre" given the context, and stated it was unclear what message it was trying to convey. To the GOC, the text seemed to contravene the spirit of the paragraph, and he suggested deleting it. Urbancic