GICNT: U.S. CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR REPUBLIC OF

UNCLAS STATE 121117 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PTER RS US KGIC SK PARM SUBJECT: GICNT: U.S. CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR REPUBLIC OF KOREA HOSTING 2011 PLENARY REF: SEOUL 1632 ¶1. This is an action request for Embassy Seoul. Please see paragraph 3. SUMMARY -------------- ¶2. The United States welcomes the Republic of Korea,s (ROK) offer to host the 2011 Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) Plenary meeting. The United States has discussed with the Russian Federation MFA staff (Russian GICNT Co-Chair),who also welcomes the offer. This decision will most likely be announced once the Co-Chairs have identified a host for the 2010 Plenary. The United States also remains interested in ROK,s offer to host a series of GICNT activities in the future. OBJECTIVES -------------- ¶3. Department requests Post to inform appropriate ROK officials of the following: -- The United States looks forward to ROK,s participation in the GICNT Exercise Planning Group (EPG) meeting on January 19, 2010 in Budapest, Hungary. -- Welcome the ROK,s offer to host the 2011 GICNT Plenary, noting that the United States has discussed this matter with the Russian Co-Chair. The Co-Chairs look forward to announcing that ROK will host the 2011 Plenary, once a host for the 2010 Plenary meeting has been identified (discussions with certain partners are ongoing at present). -- Inform ROK that the Co-Chairs look forward to receiving more details regarding their proposals for additional GICNT activities. The United States hopes these activities will aim to encourage regional cooperation among GICNT partner nations and implement at least one of the eight items from the Statement of Principles. -- Inform ROK that no formal procedure exists for requesting to host a Plenary. In the past, the Foreign Minister of the offering partner nation has submitted a formal invitation to the U.S. Secretary of State and Russian Foreign Minister. We anticipate that this and other procedural matters will become clearer in 2010 as the partnership examines how to &enhance implementation,8 a concept the Co-Chairs introduced at the June 2009 Plenary meeting. REPORTING DEADLINE -------------- ¶4. Department requests that Post report ROK,s response by December 7. BACKGROUND -------------- ¶5. On October 15, the ROK proposed hosting the 2011 or 2012 GICNT Plenary meeting and also a series of GICNT activities (Reftel). ¶6. Background on the GICNT: The GICNT was launched in July ¶2006. Its mission is to strengthen international cooperation and collaboration to build partners, individual and collective capacity to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism. The United States and the Russian Federation co-chair the GICNT. GICNT partners are committed to a set of principles that encompass a broad range of deterrence, prevention, detection, and response objectives. Through multilateral activities and exercises, partners share best practices and lessons learned, particularly with regional neighbors, in order to strengthen both individual and collective capabilities to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism. To date, partners have conducted over thirty multilateral activities and five senior-level GICNT meetings, resulting in strengthened policies, enhanced information sharing techniques, and greater partner nation transparency and collaboration. ¶7. President Obama has called for the Global Initiative to become a &durable international institution8 (Prague speech, April 2009). Both the United States and Russia welcome the expansion and strengthening of the Global Initiative and are currently taking steps to enhance implementation of the Initiative. There are now 76 partners in the Global Initiative and four official observers: the European Union (EU),the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL),and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC). POINT OF CONTACT -------------- ¶8. The Department greatly appreciates Post,s assistance. All cables associated with the GICNT should be slugged to the Department for ISN/WMDT and the relevant regional bureaus. E-mails regarding the GICNT may be sent to . CLINTON