KAZAKHSTAN PRESSES AGAIN ON OSCE SUMMIT, ANNUAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 001843

SIPDIS

STATE FOR P, S/P, SCA/CEN, S/SRAP, EUR/RPM, EUR/RUS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL OSCE RS CH AF KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN PRESSES AGAIN ON OSCE SUMMIT, ANNUAL
BILATERAL CONSULTATIONS

REF: ASTANA 1840

Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland


1. (C) To follow up on the October 7-8 visit to Astana by
Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, the Ambassador met
on October 12 with Deputy Foreign Kairat Umarov to seek
clarification how the Foreign Ministry would coordinate
Kazakhstan's inter-agency process to designate a single lead
entity for the U.S.-funded biological threat reduction
Central Reference Laboratory to be built in Almaty (reftel).
Umarov raised two other points -- Kazakhstan's keen desire to
organize an OSCE summit during its 2010 chairmanship, and the
proposed U.S.-Kazakhstan Annual Bilateral Consultations
(ABC). He provided a non-paper on the ABC (text in para six
below) that included a proposal that the ABC be designated
the "Nazarbayev-Obama Commission." Please see action request
in para seven below.

OSCE SUMMIT


2. (C) Umarov reiterated Kazakhstan's standard arguments for
organizing an OSCE summit during its 2010 chairmanship, and
requested U.S. support for this effort. He said that
Kazakhstan has considered several summit agendas, including
religious tolerance and non-proliferation, but is leaning
increasingly strongly toward Afghanistan, especially after
Foreign Minister Saudabayev's recent meetings in New York
with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Special
Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard
Holbrooke. Umarov said, "This (topic) frankly would not be
easy for us. It would not be very popular domestically and
most certainly not with 'our big partner' (Russia) that is
pushing us hard for an OSCE summit to promote a new European
Security Treaty. The 'big partner' does not want OSCE to
become involved in Afghanistan. However, we understand that
Afghanistan is President Obama's most serious and
far-reaching foreign-policy priority -- it will be his
defining moment. We want to be helpful to your president.
We have said from the beginning we want to be in lock-step
with you to thank you for allowing us to become the OSCE
chairman. This is a great honor for us, and it is only
because the United States agreed." The Ambassador assured
Umarov that he would convey this information and seek
Washington's views.

ANNUAL BILATERAL CONSULTATIONS


3. (C) Passing over a non-paper in Russian and in English,
Umarov said that Kazakhstan warmly welcomes the U.S.
initiative to establish the ABC as soon as possible.
Kazakhstan is ready to engage fully on all dimensions of the
ABC, but believes it is necessary that Presidents Obama and
Nazarbayev head the ABC as a Presidential Commission "to keep
things moving forward, because bureaucracies always tend to
bog down. We're at the smoothest point in our bilateral
relationship that we've seen for the past 10 years. Most of
us what to take advantage of that to move forward in all, I
emphasize all, key areas." The Ambassador cautioned that
Washington is not likely to approve a Presidential
Commission, but that we would be fully committed to move
forward our bilateral relations, using the mechanism of the
ABC to the fullest extent possible.


4. (C) At the end of the meeting, Umarov dismissed Americas
Director Askar Tazhiyev and his own note-taker. Walking the
Ambassador into his private office, he said he had been
authorized to explain further. "We want you to understand
that the bilateral relationship is at a very sensitive point.
President Nazarbayev is increasingly pleased with its
substance, tone, and balance, and feels he can trust the

ASTANA 00001843 002 OF 003


United States more than ever before. That's why he named
Saudabayev Foreign Minister. The election of President
Obama, who is respected in Kazakhstan, has given President
Nazarbayev the political space he needs to enhance the
U.S.-Kazakhstan relationship. The Nobel Peace Prize has only
improved the public's good feelings about President Obama and
the United States. Nazarbayev increasingly feels political
pressure from Russia and economic pressure from China. He
needs the symbolic visibility of a strong U.S. relationship
to maintain balance -- thus, our proposal for a presidential
commission. Further, while the majority of the government is
enthusiastic about an enhanced relationship with the United
States, a few agencies oppose it strongly and argue
forcefully to Nazarbayev that he cannot trust the United
States because it wants to overthrow him and steal
Kazakhstan's natural resources."


5. (C) The Ambassador suggested that this is the worst
possible kind of old-think. Umarov replied, "Maybe. But it
is our reality, and we're asking you to understand and help
us move forward. The president is thinking and calculating
geopolitically, as he has always done. We hope that you will
communicate this to your decision-makers." The Ambassador
responded that he understood the wider context of this
explanation and would pass these views to Washington. He
cautioned that the Washington inter-agency process is long
and complicated, but that these views would be factored into
the on-going policy debates.


6. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT OF NON-PAPER:

(Title) Annual Bilateral Consultations

Kazakhstan has reviewed the United States' proposals to
establish regular bilateral policy consultations in order to
enlarge and deepen our strategic partnership.

We agree with the proposal to arrange consultations in
alternating capitals on an annual basis with a six-month
review between annual sessions to monitor agreed work-plan
time-lines.

We support the suggestion to divide the Commission's activity
in the form of Working Groups covering the following
subjects: political, security, human dimension, economic and
development issues, energy.

We agree with the idea to involve into the Working Group on
Economic and Development Issues questions of business and
business organizations, and to include American and Kazakh
NGOs in the Working Group on the Human Dimension.

We also support that these consultations will take into
account existing bilateral and regional initiatives such as
the bilateral talks being planned under the auspices of the
Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA),the Public
Private Economic Partnership Initiative (PPEPI),and the
Kazakh-American Joint Commission on Energy Partnership.

We propose to institutionalize such consultations in a format
of Kazakh-American Commission at the higest level --
"Nazarbayev-Obama Commission." At the same time, heads of
the foreign offices of our States will coordinate the
Commission's work.

Also, according to the previous agreements, we expect to
receive the proposals for the heads of each Working Group
from the American side.

END TEXT.


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7. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Because we have received this
proposal officially, we request Washington's guidance on how
to respond. END ACTION REQUEST.
HOAGLAND