UN SYG SPOTLIGHTS NONPROLIFERATION AND CLIMATE IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 002747 SENSITIVE SIPDIS NSC TO SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR WHA RESTREPO, WHA FOR DAS ROBERTA JACOBSON, WHA FOR MEX DIRECTOR LEE AND STAFF E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2019 TAGS: PREL SENV PARM AORC TBIO PGOV PINR MX SUBJECT: UN SYG SPOTLIGHTS NONPROLIFERATION AND CLIMATE IN MEXICO REF: A. A - MEXICO 724 ¶B. B - MEXICO 2677 ¶C. C - STATE 90254 MEXICO 00002747 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) Summary: UN Secretary General (UN SYG) Ban Ki-Moon visited Mexico City September 7-8 as the keynote speaker for the 62nd annual conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the UN Department of Public Information on the theme of "for Peace and Development: Disarm Now." During public speeches and private meetings with President Calderon, Ban Ki-Moon underscored his major global objectives: disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, holding back climate change, and controlling H1N1. Ban Ki-Moon later visited a site of massive flooding in Valle Dorado, close to Mexico City, with President Calderon and offered UN aid, linking the natural disaster to climate change. End Summary. Conference on NGO Global Advocates -------------- ¶2. (U) The UN SYG delivered inagural remarks at an annual NGO event that draws up to 2,000 attendees from civil society. The UN's Office on Public Information works each year with NGOs to organize a three-day seminar around a new topic, giving them an opportunity to influence global events. With this year's focus, the UN and NGOs strove to lay groundwork for the 2010 Non-proliferation Review Conference. SYG Ban Ki-Moon underscored in his keynote the suitability of holding a nonproliferation meeting in Mexico City, the site where the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean signed the Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1967 - establishing the first nuclear-weapon-free zone in a populated region. The UN SYG reminded the NGO attendees that action towards international disarmament begins not just with nations, but with individual citizenship and advocacy. Mexico Dips Into Disarmament... -------------- ¶3. (C) Following the conference, Mexican President Calderon told SYG Ban Ki-Moon in their bilateral meeting that he plans to attend the September 24 Global Nuclear Security Summit on the margins of UNGA, emphasizing that addressing this issue in a multilateral forum remains of critical importance for the Mexican Government. Calderon likewise asked the UN SYG to convey his congratulations to POTUS for asking the U.S. Congress to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Mexico is one of the signatories of this treaty and also played a key role in its negotiation process. Based on the positioning of Calderon with the SYG and Poloff's conversation 9-9 with Julian Juarez Cardenas, Deputy Director for UN-Related Security and Legal Issues at the Foreign Relations Secretariat (SRE),Mexico welcomes the Administration's objective to seek ratification on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The GOM is also pleased to see the USG seeking more of a consensus position on disarmament and non-profliferation resolutions and will likely ally with us on issues of common interest at the Global Summit on Nuclear Security. Going "Green" -------------- ¶4. (U) Ban Ki-Moon praised President Calderon's efforts on climate change in multilateral fora during his visit. In particular, the UN SYG highlighted the potential of the "Green Fund" proposal that the GOM has promoted in the run-up to Copenhagen Climate Change conference in December. Under this proposal, all states would look to finance climate-change mitigation projects. According to Calderon's plan, an organization such as World Bank would administer the program. The UN SYG invited Calderon to attend an UNGA Summit on climate change September 22, which Ban Ki-Moon will host. MEXICO 00002747 002.4 OF 002 Warding Off More H1N1 -------------- ¶5. (U) The SYG congratulated Calderon on the GOM's determination and transparency in taking measures to contain the H1N1 virus this spring. He and Calderon discussed actions that the GOM and other governments may have to implement with the return of the flu season. Flood Relief -------------- ¶6. (U) Following his bilateral with President Calderon September 8, UN SYG Ban Ki-Moon visited the site of devastating flooding in Valle Dorado with the President. During that trip, Ban Ki-Moon committed the UN to providing disaster relief in partnership with the GOM. In a speech while receiving the keys of Mexico City, he also committed UN resources to continuing to analyze risks in Mexico and elsewhere worldwide to minimize disasters, implying that these floods and other natural disasters could be associated with climate change. Comment: -------------- ¶7. (C) The UN SYG's visit afforded Calderon an opportunity to burnish Mexico's leadership credentials on the world stage -- particularly in connection to Calderon's own environmental initiative. While Mexico has historically engaged on non-proliferation, Mexico is presently more focused on matters related to small arms trafficking. Mexican Foreign Ministry officials would like the UN to engage more on organized crime challenges, but in this instance Mexico chose to focus on more mainstream themes such as climate change and non-proliferation. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / PASCUAL