CANADA HOPES TO SEE POWERFUL LEADERSHIP AT GICNT

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000326 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN/WMDT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PARM PREL KNNP KGIC MNUC RS NL CA SUBJECT: CANADA HOPES TO SEE POWERFUL LEADERSHIP AT GICNT CONFERENCE REF: STATE 35549 ¶1. (SBU) Canada will attend the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) plenary conference in The Hague and is looking for "powerful leadership" from the Russian-Dutch-U.S. troika to "attack the problem of nuclear terrorism in a fulsome way," according to Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) Director General for Global Partnerships Troy Lulashnyk. Canada remains concerned that GICNT is not focused enough on action, Lulashnyk noted, and urged the troika to emphasize "execution" at the plenary. He added that Canada believes a failure to increase the effectiveness of the Initiative risks dissipating the momentum generated by President Obama's recent focus on combating nuclear terrorism. ¶2. (SBU) Lulashnyk told Dutch Deputy Chief of Mission Erik Boer, Russian Embassy Political Counselor Dmitry Trofimov, and Deputy Pol/C on April 28 that Canadian senior officials have taken particular note of President Obama's recent speeches on the subject of nuclear terrorism, and were disappointed that the co-chairs did not incorporate a discussion of his ideas into the agenda. Lulashnyk added that, as a result of President Obama's recent emphasis on nuclear terrorism, Canada intends to provide strong support the GICNT. He added that Canadian inter-agency leaders will meet next week to decide whether to send someone senior to him to lead the delegation. In years past, Lulashnyk has always led Canada's GICNT delegations. ¶3. (SBU) Canada will not seek a speaking role at the plenary, nor does it plan to host workshops over the next two years, according to Lulashnyk. Instead, he noted that Canada will seek to "add value" to the presentations and workshops of others based on its expertise. "We plan to pick a niche and participate," he observed. DFAIT senior policy advisor David MacDuff added that Canada is also conducting activities to combat nuclear terrorism that "don't necessarily have the GICNT label." He pointed to Canada's work in the Proliferation Security Initiative as well as bilateral U.S.-Canadian projects on border security as examples where Canada is combating potential nuclear terrorism outside the GICNT. Visit Canada,s North American partnership community at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / BREESE