UNSCR 1540: EU MEMBERS BRAINSTORM ON COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000549 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2018 TAGS: PREL AORC KPAO UNSC KNNP UK FR SUBJECT: UNSCR 1540: EU MEMBERS BRAINSTORM ON COOPERATION WITH U.S. REF: IO/USUN EMAIL (JOHNSON/WILLSON)--06/12/08 Classified By: Minister Counselor Carolyn L. Willson, for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) BEGIN SUMMARY: USUN Legal Officer met with UK and French representatives to the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) ("1540 Committee") on June 18 to share information concerning U.S.-European Union coordination to promote implementation of resolution 1540. The UK and French representatives expressed interest in the U.S.-EU coordination initiative, while noting that the effort has been driven through Brussels. Both agreed that the Committee should be more proactive in finding ways to address the technical assistance requests it receives, consistent with the Committee's mandate under resolution 1810 (2008). They also agreed that U.S. and EU cooperation outside the 1540 Committee could complement the Committee's work, and that such cooperation could focus on areas in which the Committee cannot reach consensus due to opposition from Russia and China. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) USUN briefed UK and French representatives to the 1540 Committee on U.S. 1540 Coordinator Tom Wuchte's plans to travel to Brussels to discuss ways to improve coordination of U.S./EU multilateral capacity building and third-country assistance on non-proliferation. USUN stressed that EU countries on the Committee can play a leadership role in promoting implementation of resolution 1540, including by submitting national action plans concerning their 1540 implementation to the 1540 Committee. The UK expert said London had not yet begun to prepare an action plan, in part due to resource limitations, but was hoping to do so in the future. The UK and French representatives also welcomed the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe's initiative to prepare a best practices guide. ¶3. (C) The French representative argued that the 1540 Committee should take a risk-based approach to its work, focusing on states and regions with the greatest proliferation risk. Among other things, he hoped the Committee's experts could make a series of targeted country visits to help key states close their 1540 implementation gaps. Although he acknowledged that the Russians and Chinese would never permit the Committee to pursue a strategy that could be seen as singling out some countries, he thought it might be possible to orient the Committee to take a more strategic approach. He suggested sharing ideas quietly behind the scenes with the American, Australian, UK, or Italian members of the 1540 Group of Experts who support the Committee's work. By doing so, the experts might devise ideas for country-specific visits, assistance, or workshops that the Committee might pursue. ¶4. (C) In this regard, the UK and French representatives welcomed the non-paper on developing a risk-based methodology for 1540 assistance, which U.S. 1540 expert Rick Cupitt presented at the U.S.-sponsored 1540 outreach workshop in Amman, Jordan last September. They expressed concern that the Russian and Chinese members of the Committee would oppose the ideas in the non-paper if the Committee were to discuss it in detail. Instead, they thought the paper could remain a source of ideas that the U.S. or the EU Committee members could consider in their own internal planning. The UK and French representatives also acknowledged a potential role for the G-8, but the French representative cautioned that since Russia is a member of the G-8, Russia would likely oppose any efforts to have the G-8 adopt an explicitly risk-based approach toward promoting states' 1540 implementation. ¶5. (C) The UK representative cautioned that the P-3 should expect the Russians and the Chinese to be extraordinarily conservative in their approach to the 1540 Committee's work. USUN stressed that the P-3 should keep the Committee focused on fulfilling the tasks that resolution 1810 specifically sets out for it, and noted that the United States has stated publicly that it does not view the 1540 Committee as a means to penalize states for non-compliance. Khalilzad