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
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