CWC: WRAP-UP FOR APRIL 6-17, 2009

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000253

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (BROWN AND DENYER)
NSC FOR LUTES
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR APRIL 6-17, 2009

REF: A. THE HAGUE 244

B. THE HAGUE 236

This is CWC-22-09.

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Following the industry cluster
consultations (Ref A),the Chairperson of the
Executive Council (EC) held informal consultations
on the status of preparations for EC-56 (reported
in ref B). Informal consultations were also held
on Article X Assistance and Protection on April 7,
and on reports from the Office of Internal
Oversight and the External Auditor on April 8 and

15. The Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
held its regular weekly meeting on April 7.
Ambassador Alpar of Turkey called on U.S. Delreps
on April 9 to lobby for the Turkish candidate for
Director-General (DG). The week of April 13 was
particularly quiet as many delegates and senior
Technical Secretariat (TS) staff decamped to
Istanbul for the Workshop on Universality.

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WEOG
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2. (SBU) The April 7 WEOG meeting focused on Iraq's
recent declaration and feedback from the previous
week's industry cluster meetings. The U.S. and UK
informed the group that both would be providing
information on recovered munitions in Iraq
following Iraq's presentation at the destruction
informals (April 20). WEOG coordinator Ruth Surkau
(Germany) thought that difficult debate could be
expected on establishing a destruction deadline for
Iraq, if not at this upcoming EC meeting then
likely at the Conference of the States Parties
(CSP-14) in December. She also noted the DG's
previous statement that OPCW inspectors would be
asked to conduct inspections inside Iraq on a
voluntary basis due to the precarious security
situation on the ground.


3. (SBU) Italian delegate Cornacchia asserted that
WEOG delegations should take a pro-active role on
Iraq's accession to the OPCW and not leave Iraq
alone to sort out the complexities of its
declaration. German Ambassador Burkart highlighted
the section in the Iraqi declaration documenting in
vague terms the stockpiling of CW in certain
bunkers, suggesting that the Iraqis themselves are
not certain of their declarable amounts. He then
warned about the thorny questions to follow, most
likely from Iran, on the list of supplier countries
in the Iraqi declaration, and proposed that WEOG
develop a strategy to deal with this issue. Dutch
Ambassador de Savornin Lohman noted that how WEOG
and the OPCW in general deal with Iraq will be
viewed by those still outside the CWC, particularly
those that may possess CW.


4. (SBU) Regarding the Industry Cluster meetings,
Surkau shared that China plans to push for report
language at EC-56 on site selection methodology for
Other Chemical Production Facilities (OCPFs) as
they had done during EC-55. Cornacchia supported
the Chinese proposal in the hope that it might
attract a facilitator for consultations on the
issue. No WEOG delegations indicated their
willingness to offer a facilitator.


5. (SBU) On 2A/2A* low consultations, Cornacchia
(facilitator for the issue) noted that, following
the Industry Cluster, he spoke with delegations
about the proposal to circulate a questionnaire on
the anticipated impact of various thresholds (ref
A). Despite having raised opposition during the
consultation, Japan seemed far more flexible in
private; Cornacchia said he hopes to circulate a
draft questionnaire, along with revised report
language on a draft decision.


6. (SBU) Any Other Business: In response to a
question about the upcoming Universality Conference
in Istanbul, the Turkish delegate stated that
Ankara still had not received any response from
Cairo or Damascus to invitations to attend. Israel
would be sending its DCM from its Embassy in
Ankara, and Burma planned on sending an official
from Rangoon.

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TURKISH CANDIDATE FOR DG
--------------


7. (SBU) Turkish Ambassador Selahattin Alpar called
on Delreps April 9 to present the nomination for
Turkish candidate for Director-General, Ahmet
Uzumcu, and solicit U.S. support for his candidacy.
He provided a diplomatic note and resume for
Uzumcu, currently Turkey's Permanent Delegate to
the United Nations in Geneva and Permanent
Representative to the Conference on Disarmament
(documents scanned and sent to ISN/CB).


8. (SBU) Alpar emphasized Uzumcu's experience in
diplomacy, disarmament and management, and noted
that he may bridge support from different regional
groups. He said he had called on the German and
Algerian ambassadors to wish them well in a
"friendly competition." Delrep thanked Alpar for
the information, noted that the U.S. has not yet
made any decisions on candidates, and said that we
expected to work with WEOG on strategy once the
field of candidates is complete in July so that the
large number of western candidates will not be
splitting support. Alpar said that Uzumcu will be
in The Hague for a couple of days during EC-56; he
and Delrep set a tentative time for U.S. EC
Representative Mikulak to meet with Uzumcu during
his visit. Alpar said Uzumcu also plans to travel
to Washington later this spring, but the dates are
not yet set.

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ARTICLE X
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9. (U) Informal consultations on April 8 led by new
facilitator Maciek Karasinski (Poland) began with a
short presentation by the TS on the Databank on
Assistance and Protection. The TS admitted to gaps
in the database due to limitations on time and
personnel. The presentation produced little
comment. The TS made a request that States Parties
provide updated information for the list of
experts.


10. (U) Following a review of the report (EC-
55/DG.5) regarding information provided on National
Protective Programs, some questions were raised as
to how best to encourage member states to send in
information each year in April. The TS responded
defensively, noting that reminders are sent out to
every member state each year before the April due
date.


11. (U) Evaluation of Effectiveness - Note by the
TS EC-55/S/2. Delegates were generally pleased
that the TS had produced this document; however,
many delegates found the language too general. The
Czech delegate made a request for a more in-depth
analysis based on stated objectives that could be
produced on a regular basis.


12. (U) For EC-56, Karasinski stated his intention
to note the two documents above along with a
request that an evaluation paper be produced on a
regular basis and that it include recommendations
for future work.

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OFFICE OF INTERNAL OVERSIGHT
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13. (U) At an informal consultation held on April
8, facilitator Takayuki Kitagawa (Japan) handed out
an informal paper summarizing the status of
recommendations of the Office of Internal Oversight
(OIO). Questions from delegates regarding the
travel management system, records management and
the rate at which education certificates have been
translated were answered without producing any
controversy. EC-55/S/6 and EC-56/DG.5 were
reviewed and will be sent to EC-56 for noting by
the Council. Delegates seemed willing to wait for
the following week's meeting on the annual report
of the OIO to get more information.


14. (SBU) During the follow-on consultation on
April 15, OIO Director Mohamed Louati presented the
OIO annual report for 2008 (EC-56/DG.6). Louati
noted OIO's increased workload in 2008 due to a
rise in requests for advice from the TS Front
Office. (Del Note: Del has been hearing
informally that the Front Office insists on sending
all decisions, no matter how minor or routine, to
the Legal Advisor and OIO for opinions before
acting on them. End Note.) Louati announced that
in early April the OPCW Lab received an extension
of its ISO accreditation by the Netherlands
Accreditation Council to 2013.


15. (U) Kitagawa then went through the report
section-by-section allowing delegations to raise
questions and seek clarification from Louati, David
O'Regan (Internal Auditor) and Administration
Director Ron Nelson. Responding to a question from
the Dutch delegate, Louati said that the first-ever
external review of OIO -- requested by the
Netherlands and other delegations during the 2009
budget consultations -- is planned for October.
U.S. Delrep asked about plans to regularize
positions in the TS as recommended by OIO for a
number of offices; Nelson responded that the DG was
firm on maintaining the number of fixed-term staff
at its present number (523). Nelson also noted
that there are not any unfilled fixed-term
positions that could be converted, so the TS plans
to continue relying on short-term contracts to fill
staffing needs.


16. (U) Before ending the meeting, Kitagawa
announced his intention to brief the Council on the
outcome of both rounds of consultations and
recommend that all three reports under
consideration be noted. No delegations voiced any
opposition. However, Kitagawa later told Delrep
that South African delegate van Schalkwyk, who was
absent from consultations, said he would ask for
deferral of the OIO annual report during EC-56 in
order to have more time to study it.


17. (U) BEIK SENDS.

GALLAGHER