POLAND'S AGREES WITH USG ON ZIMBABWE CHAIR OF CSD

UNCLAS WARSAW 000529 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS IO/EDA FOR REBECCA WEBBER OES/ENV FOR KERI HOLLAND E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC EAGR EAID ECON EUN PREL SENV SUBJECT: POLAND'S AGREES WITH USG ON ZIMBABWE CHAIR OF CSD REF: STATE 40180 ¶1. (SBU) Econoff raised reftel points on Zimbabwe chairing the Commission on Sustainable Development with Mariusz Lewicki, Head of the Department of United Nations System and Global Affairs in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lewicki stated that Poland's thinking on the Zimbabwe chairmanship was in line with the views contained in reftel. He agreed that the commission's credibility suffers from the current chairmanship, and that some action was appropriate. However, he said that the composition of Poland's delegation to CSD-16 had not yet been selected. He said he would notify the embassy when a decision had been made on the rank of the delegation head. ¶2. (SBU) Econoff also discussed reftel with Slawomir Gurtowski, Assistant Director of the Department of Global Environmental Problems and Climate Change in Poland's Ministry of Environment. Gurtowski agreed that Zimbabwe was not an appropriate choice to head the commission. He was concerned, however, that sending a lower-ranking delegation to CSD-16 might send a signal that the work of the commission was not considered important. Moreover, he acknowledged that the composition of the delegation would be determined by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and not by the Ministry of Environment. ASHE