WELCOMING ESTONIA INTO THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO

UNCLAS TALLINN 000076 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR KATHERINE GARRY EUR/NB AND TIM KATSAPIS INS/WMDT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KNNP RU EN SUBJECT: WELCOMING ESTONIA INTO THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM REFTEL: (A) 07 STATE 168633 (B) 08 STATE 5399 (C) 08 STATE 11773 ¶1. (U) Action Request - please see paragraph (6). ¶2. (SBU) On February 21, the Ambassador and Russian Ambassador to Estonia Nikolai Uspensky met with Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and the Estonian MFA's Director of Political Department Aivo Orav to officially welcome Estonia as a member of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GI). Both Ambassadors expressed their gratitude to Estonia for demonstrating a growing commitment to the global fight against nuclear terrorism. The Russian ambassador commended the Government of Estonia (GOE) for its willingness to take a leadership role in furthering international cooperation in the area of nuclear non- proliferation (Ref A). The Ambassador proposed the GOE consider hosting a May 2008 GI conference on the development of a best practices and information sharing portal (Ref C). He also stressed the need to include the private sector in the development of GI best practices, as they are the owners and operators of much of the technology and equipment related to nuclear proliferation (Ref B). ¶3. (SBU) FM Paet welcomed the words of encouragement from the two ambassadors, and stressed the importance of reminding non-nuclear countries that they are also at risk from the transport of nuclear materials across their borders. Paet expressed the hope that Estonia's participation in the GI will set a positive example for other non-nuclear states, and encourage them to join. He proposed a joint opinion editorial on GI with Secretary Rice and Russian FM Lavarov which would stress the importance of international cooperation to combat nuclear proliferation. Paet indicated that if the USG and GOR agree to go with the idea, the GOE is ready to draft this statement. Both Ambassadors agreed to convey this request to their respective foreign ministers. ¶4. (SBU) FM Paet also stated that it is not the GOE's intent to act as a passive supporter of GI, but to become active in the development process as well. FM Paet commented that Estonia is ready to discuss organizing GI related events in the region. (NOTE: Pol/Econ and DAO will continue to work with the GOE GI POCs to obtain a response to the U.S. proposal that Estonia host a GI information portal development conference in May 2008. End Note.) PRESS COVERAGE ¶5. (U) The meeting received coverage in the Baltic News service (BNS) on February 21. The article reported that Paet wants Estonia to be an active participant in the U.S.- Russian Global Initiative to combat nuclear terrorism. It quoted the Foreign Minister as saying: 'It is essential for the international community to take steps to prevent nuclear weapons and radioactive substances from falling into the hands of terrorists or nuclear facilities becoming the target of terrorist attacks.' ACTION REQUEST -------------- ¶6. (SBU) In addition to promoting international collaboration on non-proliferation, Estonia's participation in the GI presents a valuable opportunity to encourage Estonia-Russian cooperation. We believe a positive response to FM Paet's request to do a joint United States- Russia-Estonia article at the Minister level on GI is a good one. Embassy requests Department guidance on how to formally respond to this request. PHILLIPS