ARGENTINA: GOA SUPPORTIVE OF AUSTRALIAN PROPOSAL ON IMO

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000530 GENEVA FOR USTR OES/OPA FOR GREG O'BRIEN SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EIDN ETRD EWWT IMO KTIA PREL SENV AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: GOA SUPPORTIVE OF AUSTRALIAN PROPOSAL ON IMO SHIP RECYCLING CONVENTION REF: STATE 41904 (NOTAL) ¶1. (SBU) Counselor Javier Figueroa of the Argentine MFA's Office of the Legal Advisor expressed support for the Australian proposal on ship recycling in the International Maritime Organization (IMO), following the delivery of reftel demarche presented jointly by Econoff and Nick McCaffrey, First Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Argentina. Figueroa said he would personally attend the IMO Diplomatic Conference May 11-15, 2009 in Hong Kong, along with an expert from the Prefectura Naval (Argentine Coast Guard-equivalent). He said that the GoA "can support the Australian proposal" and explained that the GoA has "doubts about the WTO compliance" of the convention in current form. He added that Argentina has little direct interest in the issue, as the country generally doesn't recycle ships other than sunken ones. ¶2. (SBU) Figueroa suggested what he thought might be an improvement to the Australian proposal. He stated his understanding that the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal obligates parties to notify the Secretariat of the Convention when conducting related activities, and commented that the Australian proposal might be better with such a notification clause, but that Argentina would support it regardless. ¶3. (SBU) Figueroa asked if we were aware of any countries taking positions against the Australian proposal. He added that he expects Bangladesh to criticize the proposal, noting that they had already presented a paper against it. He also observed that India had presented some amendments, indicating that they would oppose at least part of the proposal, and said he was unsure about the Chinese reaction as Convention Chair. He commented that he was aware of no opposition among Latin American IMO members, nor any prior reactions by any of them to the convention or the Australian proposal. He commented that Latin American members usually hold an informal meeting prior to each IMO convention, and in preparation for such a meeting in Hong Kong he had sent inquiries to counterparts in other countries and received no substantive response on the matter. KELLY