IAEA: GUIDANCE FOR THE IAEA BUDGET WORKING GROUP

UNCLAS STATE 119320

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ABUD AFIN AORC ENRG IAEA KNNP PREL
SUBJECT: IAEA: GUIDANCE FOR THE IAEA BUDGET WORKING GROUP


1. This is an action request; see para 2-3 below.


2. ACTION REQUEST: Washington requests Mission UN Vienna
(UNVIE) to use the Budget Working Group (BWG) and Medium Term
Strategy (MTS) for 2012-2017 processes to advance U.S. budget
priorities and management improvements, focusing on achieving
greater operational efficiencies and enhancing transparency
in budget formulation and execution. For the 2011 budget,
Mission should state that we are not seeking ZRG for 2011.
We would like to focus on funding capital investments, which
we believe are necessary but were not funded in 2010, and on
the continued mainstreaming of nuclear security. Mission
should not speak to a specific level of increase at this
time. Washington also requests that the Mission continue to
provide information as these processes move along on factors
such as what the Agency expects to propose for 2011, the
status of the major capital projects, and the short-term
requirements for these projects, in order to inform our
decision on guidance on the overall budget level. Washington
further requests additional information on the proposal for a
special assessment related to capital projects. In addition
to 2011, the U.S. should call on the BWG to address the
2012-2013 budget, consistent with the Board,s decision on
the 2010 budget.


3. Management issues to be pursued through the BWG should
focus on identifying opportunities for efficiency gains
through management reform and improved business practices,
for example, by reforming the IAEA's procurement processes.
We also would like to see a meaningful discussion in the BWG
on the prioritization of programs, including sun-setting
programs in which the IAEA does not have comparative
advantage. Consideration also should be given to expanding
and partnering with private enterprise and NGOs in areas
where the IAEA does enjoy a comparative advantage. We
support efforts to reform management and improve efficiency
at the IAEA as we seek to right-size its budget through a
needs-based assessment. We believe that an advisory group on
management reform should be established to make
recommendations to the Secretariat that the Board would take
into account in the budget for 2012-2013. In addition, we
would like the BWG to address how the IAEA's budget
formulation process can be improved to demonstrate better the
IAEA's true resource requirements, how the IAEA can better
communicate what it,s achieving, and how Member States can
take a more active role in guiding Program and Budget
formulation. As for the Medium Term Strategy (MTS),UNVIE
should emphasize that the MTS should be utilized as an
effective tool in budget planning, as it was meant to be.


4. To build on the preceding guidance, the Department in the
near future will draft a strategy that includes budget
priorities based on a needs-based assessment, engagement
options, timelines for decision, and recommended guidelines
for both the Budget and MTS Working Groups.


5. Outside of Vienna, the USG is planning a concerted,
higher-level push to better resource the IAEA in the next
biennium. Such an approach will take advantage of the
President,s agenda and Cabinet-level attention to commit
Geneva Group states to relax their strict preference for
zero-real growth and encourage stronger management practices
by the IAEA, including, among other things, a more
transparent, defensible, and needs-based approach to budget
development. This effort will take advantage of the
UK-proposed conference on IAEA governance (to be worked
through London),the G-8 process, the BWG and Medium Term
Strategy (MTS) processes, and related vehicles.
CLINTON