OPEN SKIES: 2009 QUOTA DISTRIBUTION/DECONFLICTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 USOSCE 000245 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/PRA, EUR/RPM, SCA/CEN JCS FOR COL NORWOOD OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) NSC FOR HAYES E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL OSCE SUBJECT: OPEN SKIES: 2009 QUOTA DISTRIBUTION/DECONFLICTION MEETINGS AND WORKING GROUP ¶1. (SBU) Summary. On October 9-10 USDEL participated in the 2009 active quota distribution meeting and led the deconfliction discussion for observation flights over Belarus/Russian Federation and Ukraine. The U. S. asked for and received 14 active quotas over Belarus/Russian Federation and 1 active quota over Ukraine. Following the quota distribution, USDEL organized and successfully deconflicted the observation flight schedule over Russia and Ukraine for all of 2009. Additionally, USDEL met with various delegations and finalized next year's flight sharing arrangements. ¶2. (SBU) Earlier in the week, The OSCC Working Group on Rules and Procedures met to discuss Slovakia's proposed draft decision on alternate airfields. The U.K. and Sweden expressed support for the draft while several States Parties expressed concerns with the applicability of the decision during an emergency landing and observation flight. Slovakia will addressed inputs from States Parties and will distribute a revised draft for discussion at the next working group meeting. Washington please see paragraphs 4, 8, and 9. End summary. QUOTA DISTRIBUTION MEETING - SPIRIT OF COOPERATION - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (SBU) USDEL (Duong, Wright, Robinette Jordan, White, Harmon) participated in the Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) "Meeting on Active Quota Distribution 2009 and Preliminary Deconfliction Discussion" on October 9-10. Germany (Ratzlaff) chaired the quota distribution discussions that was characterized by a spirit of cooperation by many States Parties. The three "oversubscription" problems concerned passive quotas over Bosnia-Herzegovina (2 over), Georgia (2 over),and Ukraine (2 over). Delegations from Sweden, Turkey, Latvia, Germany, France and Italy displayed the Treaty's spirit of cooperation by their offer and willingness to share their observation flights and aircraft over the three oversubscribed countries. Through sharing agreements, passive quotas were reduced to within Treaty limit. ¶4. (SBU) The United States requested and received 14 active quotas over Belarus/Russian Federation and one quota over Ukraine. The U.S. will share its missions over Belarus/Russian Federation with Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, as well as other partners yet to be determined partners. The U.S. will share its single quota over Ukraine with Canada. Russia requested and received 4 observation flights over the United States. Additional details of the quota distribution can be found in OSCC.DEL/17/08. Belarus will prepare a draft decision on the 2009 active quota distribution for adoption by the OSCC Plenary on October 27. USDEL have verified that the quota allocation is in compliance with the various provisions of the Treaty on Open Skies. Unless otherwise directed, USDEL intends to join consensus on this decision. DENMARK TO FLY OPEN SKIES - TURKISH IR SENSOR WORKSHOP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) An encouraging development for the Treaty on Open Skies occurred during the quota meeting. Denmark, which has never conducted an active Opens Skies observation flight since ratifying the Treaty, decided to do so in 2009. Due to the lateness of Denmark's decision, the Danish Open Skies team was not able to submit the OSF-34 per the timeline dictated by OSCC Decision 12/04 (by 1 October). As a result, Denmark was concerned that its one quota request for Belarus/Russian Federation would be denied. Following a formal request by the Danish delegation at the quota distribution meeting, was supported by Norway, the U.S., and Turkey, the German chair agreed to include the Danish bid into the quota distribution process. ¶6. (SBU) Additionally, during the meeting, Turkey called USOSCE 00000245 002 OF 003 attention to its upcoming infrared sensor data gathering workshop which will be held from 3-14 November. This was a repeat of Turkish OSF-35 transmitted on 26 September (OS/TR/08/35/F35/O) that officially announced the event. Turkish representatives distributed an information packet that contained the workshop schedule as well as tourist brochure for Antalya, Turkey. USDEL (White, Harmon) will delivered the packets to U.S. sensor working group team members. FLIGHT DECONFLICTION - FAST AND FURIOUS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶7. (SBU) Immediately following the quota distribution meeting, USDEL led the discussion to deconflict observation flights over Belarus/Russian Federation and Ukraine for 2009. The preliminary schedule submitted by States Parties with active quotas over the two countries had 8 scheduling conflicts in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. In a whirlwind and at times excited discussion, participants were able to, within 30 minutes, deconflict the flight schedule for 2009 (in contrast to last year's 2 days of meeting) with the exception of one (U.S. and Turkey). It was the now familiar situation of Turkey not wanting to flex from its unreasonable desire to not fly in the 1st and 3rd quarter due to "bad" weather. Fortunately, Turkey and the U.S. were able to come to an agreement to share the mission during the week in conflict. ¶8. (SBU) USDEL requests Washington transmit the OSF-28 notification for flights over Belarus/Russian Federation for the 1st quarter of 2009 as detailed below. -1st flight: US(lead)-Germany -2nd flight: Italy -3rd flight: Poland -4th flight: US(lead)-Sweden-Norway ¶9. (SBU) USDEL requests Washington transmit the OSF-28 notification for flights over Ukraine for the 1st quarter of 2009 as detailed below. -1st flight: Spain(lead)-Czech Republic SHARING AGREEMENTS - LET'S MAKE A DEAL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶10. (SBU) On the margins of the quota discussions, USDEL conducted a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings with potential observation flight sharing partners. In addition to agreements that had been previously coordinated and agreed to, USDEL was able to confirm additional sharing agreement with Hungary and Turkey for 2009. Finland was not willing to enter into a sharing arrangement because the $15,000 offered by USDEL was not enough. The Finns wanted a 50/50 arrangement. With much regret, the Latvian delegation informed USDEL that they are not able to share a flight with the U.S. due to a prior agreement with Germany. Latvia did indicate its openness to the idea of sharing an observation flight with the U.S. in 2010. ROMANIAN/US SHARED MISSION - FIRST TIMER - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶11. (SBU) Following intensive discussion with USDEL (Harmon, Duong, Wright, Robinette, Jordan, White) throughout the two days, Romania agreed to share their one 2008 observation mission over Russia with the U.S. The mission will take place in November. The U.S. support in this mission will be essential as this is the first time Romania will utilize its newly certified aircraft in a mission over Russia. USDEL (Harmon, Duong) consulted with Russian and Belarusian representatives (Kozlov, Pavlov) on allowing the U.S. to have an extra quota over Russia for 2008. Following consultation with their capitals, USDEL was informed that Belarus/Russian Federation would agreed to the U.S. proposal. USDEL will coordinate the appropriate administrative modalities to facilitate the US-Romania sharing agreement. USOSCE 00000245 003 OF 003 SLOVAK'S ALTERNATE AIRFIELDS DECISION - NOT A DONE DEAL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶12. (SBU) The Open Skies Working Group on Rules and Procedures met on October 6 under the Chairmanship of Russia. The focus of the meeting was on Slovakia's draft decision on alternate airfields (OSCC.RP/13/08/Rev.1). Slovak representative (Jancovic) introduced the latest version of the draft decision which included comments from the U.S. as well as other States Parties. There was general agreement with the new text and both the U.K. and Sweden expressed their support for the decision. ¶13. (SBU) However, several States Parties wanted clarification on the applicability of the decision. Belarus (Pavlov) wanted to insert the phrase "group of States Parties" into the opening paragraph to make it applicable to the Russian Federation and Belarus group of States Parties. Turkey (Ercan) questioned how the cost aspect of the decision would apply to an emergency landing at an alternate airfield not designated under the decision. Finland (Kangaste) was confused by the verbiage in paragraph 6 of the draft. Kangaste wanted to know if the observing State Party would be allow to continue with the observation flight following a landing at an alternate airfield. ¶14. (SBU) The chair encouraged delegations with additional questions and comments to send their propose changes to him and the Slovakian delegation. Jancovic will distribute a new version for discussion at the next working group meeting to be held on 27 October. SCOTT