NORWAY SHARES USG GOALS ON IAEA MIDDLE EAST ISSUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000560 SIPDIS FOR ISN/RA (JODY DANIEL AND ARIEL STUKALIN) E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2019 TAGS: AORC PARM PREL KNNP IAEA EG IS NO SUBJECT: NORWAY SHARES USG GOALS ON IAEA MIDDLE EAST ISSUES REF: A. STATE 94890 ¶B. STATE 91633 Classified By: Political and Economic Counselor Cherrie Daniels for rea sons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Political/Economic Counselor Cherrie Daniels met with Inga Nyhamar, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Section Chief for Disaramament and Nonproliferation, September 14 to deliver ref A points. Nyhamar stated that Norway was "not difficult to convince on this issue," as Norway shares our goals and fully supports the New Zealand presidency in its efforts to achieve a consensus outcome at this week's IAEA General Conference. She said that like the USG, Norway would find a divisive International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference (IAEA GC) detrimental to the upcoming NPT meeting. Nyhamar did not have specific information about an Israel resolution, but took all ref A points on board and undertook to convey the USG position to Amb. Knut Langeland in her office, who traveled to Vienna to represent Norway at the GC. She cautioned that, in general, the prognosis for a positive, consensus-based outcome at the GC does not look good, especially given the contentious board of governors discussions last week. She had not yet had a readout from this morning's (September 14) meetings in Vienna. ¶2. (C) On our request regarding the Iranian proposal for a resolution on Israeli Nuclear Capabilities, Nyhamar said she could not provide comment but only because of her own lack of knowledge on the issue. She said that the Obama administration's openness to dialogue with Iran, and Iran's recent response to the U.S.'s offer of dialogue could, of course, influence the atmosphere of the meeting. She welcomed further information on the U.S. response to Iran's latest move, and post will follow up to share with her the information we just received on the subject in Ref B. ¶3. (C) Nyhamar said that Norway agrees with all of the E.U. interventions at the IAEA General Conference, and has in fact only taken even stronger positions with respect to some of them, for example, on the Nuclear Fuel Bank. Nyhamar added that consensus-building work with moderate members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries is part of Norway's modus oparandi in many fora, including at the IAEA. When we asked for Norway's support with that group, she responded quite positively, "This is what we do." ¶4. (C) Nyhamar promised to forward our points immediately to Norway's delegation in Vienna. HEG