KAZAKHSTAN: INTER-AGENCY DELEGATION TO VISIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASTANA 000666 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, ISN/MTR, T E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2029 TAGS: PREL PGOV ETTC KNNP MTCR KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: INTER-AGENCY DELEGATION TO VISIT WASHINGTON TO DISCUSS KAZAKHSTAN'S REQUEST TO JOIN THE MTCR Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland, Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (SBU) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent us a diplomatic note on April 14 requesting bilateral consultations in Washington during May 4-5 to discuss Kazakhstan's interest in joining the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The text of the note follows: BEGIN TEXT No. 10-3/1270 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan expresses its compliments to the Embassy of the United States of America and further to its Note 10-3/434 of February 6, 2009, has the honor to inform the Embassy that the following Kazakhstani delegation will visit (the United States) May 2-5, 2009, to discuss issues connected to Kazakhstan's accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR): 1) B.K. Sadykov, Director, Multilateral Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2) E.M. Shaimagambetov, Deputy Chairman, National Space Agency 3) A. Gabdullin, Division Chief, National Space Agency 4) D. Akpanbayeva, Division Chief, Ministry of Industry and Trade 5) A. Makhmudov, Attache, Multilateral Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs During its visit, the Kazakhstani delegation would like to make a presentation on Kazakhstan's system of export controls and the development of the country's space activities, and provide to the U.S. side exhaustive information on Kazakhstan's readiness to accede to the MTCR. Delegation members B. Sadykov and A. Makhmudov will also be prepared to discuss specific issues regarding international security, including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty. In this regard, the Ministry kindly requests assistance in arranging meetings for the delegation with the appropriate agencies of the U.S. Government to discuss the aforementioned issues, and in obtaining U.S. visas in a timely fashion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Embassy the assurances of its highest consideration. Astana, April 14 END TEXT ¶2. (C) COMMENT: The Kazakhstanis regularly press us here to support their candidacy to join the MTCR. They see MTCR membership as consistent with their membership in the expiring START I Treaty, their status as host of the Baikonur cosmodrome, and their ambitions to further develop their own space program. They also believe MTCR membership will be yet another opportunity to demonstrate their reliability as an international partner on non-proliferation, and point out that Kazakhstan joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in 2002 and became a subscribing state to the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC) in ¶2005. ¶3. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED: We recognize that there has essentially been a moratorium on new MTCR members since Bulgaria joined in 2004, with Russia holding membership for several new EU member states hostage to its demand that Kazakhstan, Belarus, and China be admitted. At the same time, we understand that independent of this dispute, Washington does not support Kazakhstan's membership bid for several reasons, including because of concerns Kazakhstan has not harmonized its export control list with the MTCR's and does not have a track record of effective implementation of missile-related export controls. Instead, Washington believes that Kazakhstan can make a contribution to preventing missile proliferation through unilateral adherence to MTCR guidelines. At this juncture, however, we urge consideration of a new approach -- one that reflects the maturity of the U.S.-Kazakhstan strategic partnership and takes into account Kazakhstan's expressed interest in raising bilateral cooperation to a new level under the Obama Administration. We recommend that U.S. government interlocutors use the Kazakhstani delegation's May visit to detail the specific steps Kazakhstan must take to address our MTCR concerns -- with a promise that should Kazakhstan satisfactorily implement all the steps, the United States would actively support Kazakhstan's MTCR candidacy once agreement is reached within the organization on admitting new members. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND