Government of Vietnam Responds to November and December

UNCLAS HANOI 001100 SENSITIVE SIPDIS NSC PASS TO LAURA HOLGATE AND JOYCE CONNERY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC ENRG PREL PTER TRGY IAEA PINR KNNP VM SUBJECT: Government of Vietnam Responds to November and December Nuclear Security Summit Sherpa Meetings REF: UNCLASS STATE 104896 ¶1. (SBU) This is an Action Request. See Paragraph 3. ¶2. (SBU) During a working lunch with the DCM on October 15, MFA/Americas Department Director General Ba Hung said that PM Dung was "positively considering" the President's invitation to attend the April summit meeting in Washington. However, in an October 14 meeting, the Assistant Director General of the MFA's International Organizations Department, Mr. Do Hung Viet, told Poloffs his office would serve as the point of contact for the December 3 meeting in Tokyo and the November 4-5 sous-Sherpa meeting in Washington, but did not confirm Vietnam would attend either meeting and added the GVN had not yet settled on a Sherpa or sous-Sherpa. Viet expressed an interest in knowing the level of Sherpas from other countries and requested clarification about other invitees, noting that the invitee list resembled the CTBT Annex 2 countries, minus seven countries. Viet asked why those seven were excluded. The MFA would also appreciate receiving agendas for the November and December meetings. Poloffs encouraged Viet to provide Vietnam's response to the Possible Summit Outcomes paper as soon as possible, but Viet was non-committal on when such a response would be forthcoming. ¶3. (U) Action Request: Post would appreciate the Department's assistance in responding to the MFA's questions in paragraph 2. Michalak