EUR DAS MERKEL,S MEETINGS WITH THE GUAM NATIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 083014 SIPDIS E.O. 12958 E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2018 TAGS: PREL OVIP EAID ECON KCRM AJ GG MD UP SUBJECT: EUR DAS MERKEL,S MEETINGS WITH THE GUAM NATIONAL COORDINATORS, THE GUAM SECRETARY GENERAL, AND GEORGIAN FM TKESHELASHVILI Classified By: Kerem Bilge, Reason 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: EUR DAS Merkel met with the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) National Coordinators and Secretary General in advance of the GUAM Summit in Batumi on July 1. DAS Merkel also discussed GUAM and the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in a separate meeting on June 30 with Georgian FM Eka Tkeshelashvili. The GUAM National Coordinators stressed the importance of further cooperation and coordination between member states on energy transport, combating terrorism and narcotics trafficking, and border security. During this meeting, DAS Merkel thanked GUAM Secretary General Valerie Chechelashvili for his leadership on GUAM and presented him with a signed letter of offer for continued U.S. technical assistance to the GUAM Secretariat. (Note: In addition to the GUAM-US meeting there were also GUAM-Poland, a GUAM-Japan and GUAM-Czech Republic meetings. The communiqus from all the meetings focused on energy, transport, tourism and resolution of the frozen conflicts. However, the Polish communique calls for Poland to assist GUAM with diplomatic training; the Czech communiqu mentions facilitating GUAM-Visegrad cooperation and the Japanese communiqu mentions environmental/energy-saving technologies and investment. End note). END SUMMARY. -------------- GUAM-U.S. MEETING -------------- ¶2. (C) The Azerbaijani representative opened his presentation by saying that economic issues are important and building a secure transportation corridor is GUAM,s priority. Energy cooperation is important as well and GUAM seeks to engage &the eastern side of the Caspian8 on energy transportation issues as well. The GUAM countries need to cooperate against common threats like terrorism and narcotics, and will expand that cooperation into border security. Interestingly, the Azerbaijani representative mentioned the frozen conflicts only at the end of his presentation as simply another priority area along with demining and the withdrawal of &foreign troops8 from the region. However, he did indicate that GUAM would seek to introduce a new UNGA resolution on the conflicts. ¶3. (C) The Ukrainian representative said that U.S. political support and technical assistance remain important for GUAM. Energy security and energy transportation through the GUAM states is a top priority. The Moldovan representative (the Minister of Interior who also served as head of delegation) stressed GUAM,s achievements in the law-enforcement sphere, saying that cooperation on trafficking-in-persons is a top priority. ¶4. (C) The Secretary-General indicated that cooperation was moving ahead with U.S. support to the Secretariat, and DAS Merkel presented him with the signed original letter of offer for that project from INL Assistant Secretary David Johnson. -------------- -------------- DAS MERKEL,S MEETING WITH SECRETARY-GENERAL CHECHELASHVILI -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) In a separate meeting with DAS Merkel, Secretary-General Chechelashvili said he was pleased with the progress GUAM has made over the past two years, contrasting it favorably with the four years he spent as Secretary-General of the BSEC. He said he was concerned that Moldova was not fully engaged in GUAM, holding back in order to curry favor with &another power,8 i.e. Russia. (Sorry, I don,t have anything on VLEC) DAS Merkel thanked Chechelashvili for his leadership of GUAM and the steps he took to resolve the issue over encryption standards for the Virtual Law Enforcement Center (VLEC). (NOTE: In follow-up conversations with Embassy Kyiv, Chechelashvili said that the four member states agreed in Batumi to resolve the data-encryption issue that has prevented full use of the VLEC. A technical dispute with Ukraine prevented the Protocol from actually being signed at the Batumi Summit. Chechelashvili said it will now be signed at the GUAM meetings on the margins of UNGA in the fall. INL and ICITAP will work together to create standard operating procedures for joint operations against narcotics trafficking and trafficking-in-persons with the VLEC, but implementation will not begin until the Protocol is actually signed. The project has an estimated budget of $150,000 for each component. End note). DAS Merkel meets with FM Tkeshelashvili -------------- ¶6. (C) In a June 30 meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Tkeshelashvili, DAS Merkel thanked her for the Georgian government,s leadership of GUAM and congratulated her on Georgia,s assumption of the presidency. He reiterated U.S. support for helping Georgia resolve its conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, stressing that a peaceful resolution was the only viable outcome, and thanked her for Georgia,s continued troop deployment in Iraq. Tkeshelashvili thanked DAS Merkel for strong U.S. support, but noted that the situation in the conflict zones continued to deteriorate. She expressed strong concern over recent Russian actions, particularly the introduction of paratroopers and railway troops, and said she feared Russian annexation of Abkhazia if these actions were not reversed. She said she thought it was necessary for the U.S. and Europe to send a strong message to Russia that its actions were unacceptable and to pressure Russia to reverse them. RICE