KAZAKHSTAN: CENTRAL REFERENCE LABORATORY

UNCLAS ASTANA 001840 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, ISN NSC FOR CONNERY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL TBIO KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: CENTRAL REFERENCE LABORATORY COORDINATION ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) During the October 7-8 visit of Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman to Astana, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Andrew Weber asked several Kazakhstani officials to designate a single government entity to be responsible for coordinating the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Education adn Science so that U.S. work can proceed on building a national Central Reference Laboratry (CRL) in Almaty to promote biological threat reduction. From Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev and Prime Minister Karim Masimov we heard during the visit that the Foreign Ministry would provide the necessary coordination. ¶3. (SBU) On October 12, the Ambassador met with Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov to seek clarification. Umarov explained that the Foreign Ministry will convene the government's standing Special Commission on Biological Security. The Commission will convoke all ministries and agencies with equities in the CRL. The Government of Kazakhstan will then official communicate that information to the United States. When asked how long this process would take, Umarov responded that this kind of inter-agency process normally takes one or two months, but that the Foreign Ministry would press to accelerate it. HOAGLAND