MTCR: ARGENTINE SPACE LAUNCH VEHICLE (SLV)

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 094059 BUENOS AIRES FOR EST E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/30/2033 TAGS: MTCRE KSCA PARM PREL MNUC ETTC TSPA AR SUBJECT: MTCR: ARGENTINE SPACE LAUNCH VEHICLE (SLV) PROGRAM REF: A. BUENOS AIRES 691 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. STATE 50050 AND PREVIOUS ¶C. STATE 67398 ¶D. BUENOS AIRES 1178 Classified By: ISN/MTR Director Pam Durham. Reason: 1.5 (B),(D). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Embassy Buenos Aires, please see paragraph 5. ¶2. (C) BACKGROUND: REF D reports the government of Argentina's (GOA's) agreement to the U.S. request for transparency on Argentina's space launch vehicle (SLV) program (REF B and REF C) and request for additional U.S. thinking on the timing of an initial briefing on the Argentine SLV program and subsequent expert-level discussions in Washington and Buenos Aires. Specifically, the GOA has committed to provide the United States with full transparency into its SLV program, including annual consultations on the status of the program and on imports/exports relating to the program, and the option of periodic site/s visits. As a first step, Argentina would like to provide a one-time ""state of play"" briefing to U.S. officials and has requested that this meeting take place in Washington sometime after January 1, 2009. The GOA also would like to establish a notional schedule for annual U.S.-Argentina consultations on the SLV program. ¶3. (C) PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: In response to the GOA's request, we want to advise appropriate GOA officials that the U.S. would welcome an initial ""state of play"" briefing on Argentina's SLV program and would be willing to host a one-day meeting for this purpose in Washington, D.C. in late January or early February 2009. NOTE: We would view this briefing as separate and distinct from the one time briefing we have asked Argentina to provide to the 33 Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Partners - probably via a short information paper (REF C). END NOTE. ¶4. (C) With regard to annual U.S.-Argentina consultations on the status of Argentina's SLV program, we want to advise the GOA that the U.S. would envision the ""annual consultations"" being a half-day to one-day meeting that would be held on a mutually agreed date each year in either Washington or Buenos Aires (venue would alternate). Ideally, the first such consultations would be held in Buenos Aires, sometime in the May-July 2009 timeframe. The second annual meeting would then take place in Washington in May-July 2010. As noted in REF C, we would expect both sides to be represented at these talks by an appropriate expert-level delegation, and that the U.S. delegation would be led by the State Department's Director for Missile Threat Reduction. We also would expect the agenda for the meeting to be agreed in advance by the two governments. ¶5. (C) ACTION REQUEST: Drawing on the information provided in paragraphs 4-5 above -- and, as necessary, in REF B and REF C -- request Embassy Buenos Aires convey the following to CONAE Director Varotto and appropriate Argentine MFA officials: --The U.S. welcomes and appreciates Argentina's agreement to provide full transparency into its SLV program, including annual consultations on the status of the program and on imports/exports relating to the program, and the option of periodic site/s visits. --The U.S. would welcome an initial ""state of play"" briefing from Argentina on the SLV program and would be willing to host a meeting for this purpose in Washington, D.C. in late January or early February 2009. --The U.S. would envision the U.S.-Argentina annual consultations on the SLV program being a half-day to one-day meeting that would be held on a mutually agreed date each year and that these discussions would take place in either Washington or Buenos Aires (venue would alternate). Ideally, the first such consultations would be held in Buenos Aires, sometime in the May-July 2009 timeframe. In addition, post should clarify that the initial state of play briefing envisioned for January/February 2009 would be for the U.S. only and would be separate from whatever briefing Argentina provides to the MTCR Partners on its SLV program. Our suggestion for briefing the MTCR Partners would be for Argentina to circulate a short information paper to all the MTCR Partners via the French MTCR Point of Contact. However, the modalities for providing such a briefing are entirely up to Argentina. ¶6. (U) Washington POC is ISN/MTR Director Pam Durham (Phone: 202-647-4931). Please slug any reporting on this issue for ISN and WHA. RICE NNNN End Cable Text