NAMRU-2: THE PATH FORWARD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001001 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, OES/AIAG USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/ABHAT/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO KFLU AMED EAGR AMGT MASS PGOV ID, SUBJECT: NAMRU-2: THE PATH FORWARD REF: Jakarta 969, and previous ¶1. (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified. Please handle accordingly. ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Although Health Minister Supari has postponed her Washington visit, the time is still right to explore deepening our health cooperation with Indonesia. To do this we must first overcome an immediate challenge-the visas of NAMRU's American personnel expire in less than 19 days. Mission believes that Minister Supari's strong interest in broader health engagement may provide a path forward to resolving the impasse over NAMRU. This message outlines a vision of greater health cooperation with Indonesia and describes a strategy to overcome the urgent issue facing NAMRU. END SUMMARY. -------------- LINKING NAMRU TO BROADER HEALTH ENGAGEMENT -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Indonesians want to explore greater health cooperation with the United States as a part of our emerging Comprehensive Partnership. GOI interlocutors tell us that Minister Supari is very interested in seeking additional U.S. assistance in capacity building, health surveillance, research and vaccine production. Prior to the postponement of her June trip to the United States, Supari had planned to discuss these needs with Secretary of Health and Human Services Sebelius and raise the idea of an Indonesia-U.S. joint research laboratory. Supari's primary interest is that such a laboratory reflects a true partnership through shared leadership by the U.S. and Indonesian health ministries. Supari's team recognizes that a joint laboratory would include the presence of multiple U.S. agencies, including the military, but with new additional partners. Supari in the past has expressed particular interest in deepening ties with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and also exploring potential clinical research programs with the U.S. National Institutes of Health. She is also very interested in cultivating new partners such as the Gates Foundation. All of these interests could be woven into a new laboratory model. ¶4. (SBU) NAMRU's possible shutdown could foreclose the possibility of any deeper health cooperation. We have made it clear that NARMU's laboratory and trained personnel would be the backbone of any new joint laboratory. Supari's advisors accept this. Although deeply suspicious of current NAMRU operations, Supari's team recognizes the value of the NAMRU operation (40 years, 160 experienced staff, and significant funding),and in fact personally know a number of NAMRU's Indonesian researchers. If managed correctly, Supari could accept NAMRU if she is assured of our genuine interest in developing a new research laboratory model (bigger and more comprehensive than NAMRU),she could then be helpful on visa extensions for NAMRU personnel so that negotiations on the broader engagement can begin. -------------- DEPLU's CONCERNS: STATUS OF PERSONNEL AND MTA -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU) is also a roadblock on NAMRU. We understand that FM Wirajuda suggested to the Secretary that we must complete a bilateral Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) before moving forward on NAMRU visas. However, some contacts have suggested that he is more concerned with the issue of diplomatic status for NAMRU employees than the actual MTA, or may have been poorly briefed on the issue. Both of these issues JAKARTA 00001001 002 OF 002 will take time to resolve--the MTA through ongoing multilateral negotiations and the status of NAMRU personnel through a renegotiated MOU governing our health cooperation. Neither of these can be resolved before the current NAMRU visas expire at the end of June. -------------- RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Mission believes that we can use Minister Supari's interest in broader health engagement to extend NAMRU visas and buy us time to explore other options. These options need to meet Indonesia's concern that our health cooperation reflects a true partnership. We recommend the following steps. A) Although her trip has been postponed until after Indonesia's elections, Minister Supari still wants to meet with HHS Secretary Sebelius to discuss broader cooperation and raise the joint laboratory. We plan to meet with DEPLU to see how they interpret their Minister's comments, and to restate the USG's interest in exploring the MTA issue in follow-up to the Secretary's meeting with FM Wirajuda. We will also use the opportunity to emphasize that the June 30 expiration of NAMRU visas will close the NAMRU laboratory and thereby preclude both any forward motion on a Material Transfer Agreement and Minister Supari's discussion of the joint laboratory opportunity when she meets with Secretary Sebelius. B) We plan to meet with Supari's advisors to further identify MOH's interests in the joint laboratory and how this can be built from the current NAMRU operation. We will continue to signal U.S. concerns and explore ways we can advance a proposal. C) Upon his return, Ambassador Hume plans to meet with Minister Supari to seek her support to keep NAMRU in place during the negotiations for a new laboratory model. We will ask her to communicate this support to DEPLU so that they could provide visas accordingly. We believe DEPLU would have difficulty opposing this. D) We need Washington to agree to send an interagency delegation that would include HHS representation sometime after the Indonesian presidential poll on July 8. The team can explore both the MTA and the broader issue of transforming our health cooperation into a true partnership. NORTH