NORWAY FLEXIBLE ON INDIA NPT EXCEPTION, BUT SAYS

C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000490 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2018 TAGS: ENRG PARM KNNP SUBJECT: NORWAY FLEXIBLE ON INDIA NPT EXCEPTION, BUT SAYS TESTING PROVISIONS CRUCIAL Classified By: DCM Kevin Johnson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Subsequent to earlier demarches at senior levels, poloff contacted Anne Kari Lunde, Senior Advisor, MFA disarmament section, who will represent Norway at the NSG meeting in Vienna on September 4-6. Post wished to more precisely gauge the Norwegian government's position vis a vis the proposed NPT exception text. Lunde's comments were as follows: --Norway is "aware of Indian sensitivities" and wants to be "flexible and constructive" in finding a consensus solution. Norway is willing to accept the draft exception text if its concerns can be adequately addressed outside the text. --Press reports that Norway is in a "block" of seven countries opposing the proposal are not true. Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and Japan had engaged in "informational consultations" but it was inaccurate to say that these countries were coordinating their opposition and were not "ganging up" on the proposed text. --Issues related to nuclear testing are and will be the main stumbling block at the NSG meeting. Several countries have "tight instructions" on this issue, and without solving it, there will be no consensus. The only way forward is through somehow resolving the issue of testing. --Lunde is confused about how the text will be acceptable to the US Congress when it does not include the provisions of the Hyde Act, especially the provision that testing would trigger termination of cooperation. If the provisions of the Hyde Act had been included in the text, there would be much less opposition to it. ¶2. (C) Comment: Lunde's comments were mostly directed at the fear that the exception text would have no chance of NSG consensus approval unless the testing issue was adequately dealt with somehow. End comment. WHITNEY