NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION TREATY (NPT): NON-PAPER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 103725 SENSITIVE SIPDIS UNVIE FOR IAEA GENEVA FOR CD DELEGATION E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EG ENRG IS KNNP MNUC PARM PREL NPT IAEA SUBJECT: NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION TREATY (NPT): NON-PAPER ON TECHNICAL WORKSHOP FOR EGYPT AND ISRAEL REF: A. STATE 101698 B. STATE 103443 ¶1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraph 3. ¶2. (SBU) Background: ISN Deputy Assistant Secretary Mary Alice Hayward held meetings on NPT issues in Cairo (September 8; ref A) and Jerusalem (September 11; ref B). The meetings included discussion of the 1995 NPT Resolution on the Middle East, which calls for a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone in the region. During those meetings, she presented a concept for a Middle East technical workshop involving scientists from Egypt, Israel, the United States, and possibly other Arab states for the purpose of discussing technical cooperation relevant to building confidence on regional security. DAS Hayward indicated that the United States would provide host governments with a non-paper providing further information on this proposal. ¶3. (SBU) Action Request: Embassies are requested to provide non-paper in paragraph 4 to appropriate host government officials. Embassies should indicate that DAS Hayward is meeting with the Egyptian and Israeli delegations in Vienna during the IAEA General Conference and will provide her interlocutors there with the non-paper as well. Please ask host governments for a reply by October 17 and report any reaction. If host government officials ask why we request a reply by this date, please indicate that we hope to have the workshop this calendar year and need time to organize it. ¶4. (SBU) Begin Non-Paper Proposed Middle East Technical Workshop United Nations General Assembly Resolution 62/18, adopted by consensus on December 5, 2007, "notes the importance of the ongoing Middle East peace negotiations ... in promoting mutual confidence and security in the Middle East...." The Resolution also "invites all parties to consider the appropriate means that may contribute towards ... the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the region of the Middle East." As part of its strong support for Middle East peace negotiations and nonproliferation in the region, the United States would like to propose a confidence-building measure that could lead to further progress on regional security and nonproliferation. The establishment of a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East is a long-term proposition. An arms limitation agreement of this sort is likely to require technical arrangements, some of which can be researched and developed prior to the political acceptance of the agreement. These circumstances afford time to engage in technical cooperation that can help build confidence among regional parties and perhaps jointly develop technical arrangements relevant to a WMDFZ. This concept leads us to propose a workshop for the exchange of ideas on the technical aspects of confidence-building measures for the Middle East, including those relevant to a WMDFZ. The workshop itself would be a confidence-building measure, but we believe that such technical exchanges can also, by considering technical means to address common security problems and building relationships among counterparts in the individual states, produce meaningful results. Participants would include scientists and other technical experts from - at a minimum - Egypt, Israel, and the United States. Participants from other Arab states could also be invited. Policy officials would also attend, but the discussion would focus on the technical aspects of the issues. The United States would be pleased to host such an event, which would probably last two days at one of our National Laboratories as early as October 2008. Alternatively, the workshop could be held at a mutually agreeable location in the Middle East region. Following is a list of possible technical areas for STATE 00103725 002 OF 002 discussion at the workshop. These are only examples, and the list could be modified in a variety of ways, depending on the preferences of the participating states. - Past experience with cooperative use of technology to address common security problems - Security of civil nuclear/radioactive material - Border security measures related to: -- Detection of nuclear/radioactive material at borders -- Detection of chemical/biological material at borders -- Other border security measures - Disease monitoring (e.g., for biological weapons use) - Consequence management (e.g., to address use of WMD) - Environmental/water issues - Follow up to ideas developed at the workshop. Possible follow-up activities could include demonstrations of technical measures and arrangements for Israeli, Egyptian, and possibly other Arab scientists to work together in one or more of these areas for an extended period (e.g., months) at one of the U.S. laboratories. End Non-Paper RICE