BELGIUM ON ATTENDANCE AND AGENDA FOR GLOBAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 000598 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/WE AND ISN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/24/2019 TAGS: PARM KNNP PREL MNUC PTER KGIC BE SUBJECT: BELGIUM ON ATTENDANCE AND AGENDA FOR GLOBAL INITIATIVE PLENARY MEETING REF: STATE 35549 Classified By: Political Economic Counselor Richard Eason, reasons 1.4( b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche jointly with diplomats from the Netherlands and Russian Embassies to Belgium on April 24. They met with Werner Bauwens, Belgian Special Envoy for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver the invitation to the Global Initiative Plenary Meeting to be hosted by the Netherlands. Bauwens said that Belgium will be represented at the Plenary on a political level, but that the government will soon hold an internal meeting to determine exactly who will attend and whether a speaking role will be sought or any presentations made. He said that it is sometimes difficult to convince Belgium's subject matter experts to attend what is basically a political meeting, because they are usually more interested in operational issues. Partly for that reason, Bauwens said, he advocates adding an agenda point on control of entry points at ports and airports, where a Belgian representative might be able to speak authoritatively about lessons learned from Belgium's extensive nuclear smuggling monitoring program. (Note: these programs include detectors in Antwerp and Zeebrugge ports funded by the United States Department of Energy under its Megaports program.) If this issue is on the program, he said he would stronglhy encourage participation by Belgian experts. He also said that Belgium would be interested in hosting an exercise in port security in 2011 in the context of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI),that could be part of a global exercise involving other ports. ¶2. (C) Bauwens also said that he would like to see the GICNT take a more active role in encouraging certain of its members to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said that the GICNT has a different, collegial approach to controlling proliferation but should not be allowed to replace the importance of what takes place in the IAEA. Belgium is prepared to contribute to a program of outreach to these members (whom he did not specify) to distribute information and add encouragement. He is also interested in bringing the European Union into closer cooperation with the GICNT. BUSH .