CWC: WRAP-UP FOR OPCW 56TH EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR OPCW 56TH EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
SESSION, APRIL 21-24, 2009 (EC-56)

REF: A. THE HAGUE 286

B. THE HAGUE 287

C. THE HAGUE 179

D. THE HAGUE 236

E. STATE 38618

(U) This is CWC-26-09

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (SBU) Executive Council (EC) 56 was
characterized by a high interest in the search for
a new Director-General (DG),an extensive agenda of
routine business and increasingly obstructive
behavior by the South African delegation. Iraq's
presentation of its former chemical weapons (CW)
program to the EC destruction informals, as well as
the U.S. and UK supplementary information on CW
recovered and destroyed in Iraq, caused a stir at
the beginning of the week (see report by septel).
The Council discussed the DG selection process at
length both in formal sessions and in the
corridors. Despite a push by a few states for a
rotation of the DG position through the five
regional groups, the EC held to the step-by-step
process begun during the previous session. The
next step is an invitation to all candidates to
address EC-57 in July.


2. (SBU) The Council deferred once again the
Secretariat's recommendations for future
verification of the UK's converted chemical weapons
production facility (CWPF) after ten years. The EC
also deferred the Secretariat's proposed general
guidelines on continued verification measures of
converted CWPFs. It did, however, note the
Director-General's Note on a converted Russian CWPF
after ten years. After several bilateral meetings,
the U.S. and Iran agreed to approve the U.S.
Schedule 1 Facility Agreement and to approve and
note the changes in a previously-approved Iranian
Facility Agreement (now an Arrangement) that had
been deferred at the previous two sessions.


3. (SBU) Key EC issues are detailed below,
followed by a synopsis of the Director-General's
opening statement and the general debate, the
debate on the DG selection process, and lists of
the agenda items approved (para 34),noted (para
35) and deferred to the next session (para 36).
Meetings with the Iraqi delegation as well as a
meeting with the OPCW Legal Advisor on U.S.
recoveries in Iraq were reported in refs A and B,
respectively. The informal meeting on the status
of destruction on April 20 and other meetings on
the margins of the EC will be reported separately.
End Summary.

--------------
DG Search
--------------


4. (SBU) The "buzz" at EC-56 was all about the
search for a new Director-General. The Turkish
candidate, Ahmet Uzumcu, visited The Hague for two
days during the session and met with numerous
delegations individually and at a lunch hosted by
the Turkish Ambassador (see septel on the U.S.
meeting with him). Deputy Director-General John
Freeman, also a candidate, kept a low profile
outside the Council meetings, although he took his
usual seat on the podium for the plenary sessions.
Many delegations discussed the awkwardness of
having Freeman in the center of the Technical
Secretariat (TS) throughout the months before the


choice is made in the fall. The other local
candidate, Ambassador Benchaa Dani of Algeria, is
reportedly holding a series of dinners and meetings
with delegations; U.S. Rep met with him at his
embassy (see septel report).


5. (SBU) The EC Chairperson wrote and distributed a
report on her consultations since EC-55. She
opened debate on the issue (and her report) on
Wednesday afternoon, April 22 (detailed below),but
managed to avoid the effort by a few delegations
led by South Africa and Pakistan to edit her
report. On April 23, she adjourned the afternoon
plenary to an informal meeting to discuss report
language on the issue. Delegations argued over
language through the evening, agreeing in the end
to a convoluted single sentence that reaffirmed the
process begun during EC-55, and indicated that all
candidates would be invited to appear at EC-57 in
July, with the modalities for their interaction
with the Council to be discussed further in
consultations. The UK urged that all States
Parties with candidates, or those with an interest
in hearing from the candidates, should be invited
to attend the next session, but found no support
for this idea among Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
delegations despite their calls for transparency in
the consultations.


6. (SBU) Del Comment: That a clear invitation to
candidates could not be agreed does not bode well
for future consultations. Certain delegations
(South Africa and Iran) appear to be trying to hold
up the process deliberately, probably to send the
list of candidates to the Conference of the States
Parties in December for a vote, where they see an
advantage in numbers. End Comment.

-------------- --
Schedule 1 Facility Agreements -- U.S. and Iran
-------------- --


7. (U) The EC considered and approved the U.S.
Schedule 1 facility agreement that had been
deferred by the Iran at the last two sessions. The
EC also noted the two TS notes on amendments and
modifications to the Iranian Schedule 1 facility
agreement. At the insistence of the Iranian
delegation, both the U.S and Iranian documents were
presented to the Council for consideration as a
package. U.S. Rep Mikulak then made a brief
intervention stating that modifications to the
Iranian agreement should not set a precedent for
future agreements. Iran responded with a similar
statement.


8. (SBU) Delreps met bilaterally with the Iranian
delegation on three separate occasions outside of
the plenary to further discuss U.S. concerns with
the proposed modifications on sampling and analysis
(section 7.4) to the Iranian agreement. In
particular, Delreps attempted to obtain feedback on
the U.S. non-paper suggesting edits to section 7.4
to emphasize the Inspected State Party's obligation
to provide an alternative means to fulfill the
inspection mandate in the event sampling and
analysis activities are limited or unable to be
conducted. Iran, however, saw no value in
accepting U.S. changes and further had no
instructions to do so, citing previous arguments
presented to Delreps during EC-55 (ref C).
Qpresented to Delreps during EC-55 (ref C).


9. (SBU) Acknowledging the difficulty in attempting
to modify language in the Iranian agreement that
was copied verbatim from the U.S. agreement,
Delreps saw no long-term benefit to once again have
these documents deferred. In fact, the broader

risk of potentially damaging the credibility of the
EC process in reviewing and approving such
documents loomed as a much larger problem that
outweighed any potential benefit gained in
attempting to force an unlikely change in Iran's
position. Del therefore did not insist on the
U.S.-proposed changes.


10. (U) Delreps recommend that Washington and Del
coordinate closely on future facility agreements to
ensure proposed language would be acceptable if
used by other member states.

-------------- --------------
Director-General's Statement and the General Debate
-------------- --------------


11. (U) Chairperson Tomova (Slovakia) officially
opened EC-56 on the morning of April 21. The four
EC Vice-Chairpersons then briefed the EC on work
undertaken during the intersessional period in
their respective portfolios. Ambassador Benchaa
Dani (Algeria),Vice-Chair for chemical industry
and other Article VI issues, called for a
facilitator on site selection methodology for other
chemical production facilities (OCPFs). Iranian
delegate Hassan Vejdani briefly reported that no
consultations had taken place on legal,
organizational, and other issues.


12. (U) Director-General Rogelio Pfirter then
delivered his usual tour d'horizon. Highlights
included:

- Following the Dominican Republic's accession as
the 187th State Party, the Bahamas would be just
around the corner (Note: The Bahamas deposited its
accession documents before the end of the week.)
- He emphasized the importance of Iraq joining the
Convention given Iraq's history. Iraq's
declaration poses a unique implementation challenge
and will require a great deal of assistance.
- The TS is developing an OCPF seminar to be held
in conjunction with the annual National Authorities
meeting in December but is looking for voluntary
contributions from member states.
- The revised Handbook on Chemicals is now
available, along with a revised version of the
Declarations Handbook, which has been translated
into all official languages.
- Noting that the last challenge inspection field
exercise was held in 2007, the DG noted the
importance of these exercises and that the TS would
be seeking a host for a field exercise in 2010.
- Following the recent Istanbul universality
workshop, the TS will be sending technical
assistance visits to both Israel (in June) and
Egypt (no date yet).
- The DG made an appeal for States Parties to pay
their assessed contributions on time, as a matter
of concern and urgency.
- He announced that the draft budget to come out in
July will once again have zero nominal growth. He
indicated that this was partly dependent on States
Parties paying their assessed contributions on time
and repeated his call for payments as soon as
possible.
- In order to monitor the ongoing financial crisis,
the TS Investment Committee has been meeting every
other week.


13. (U) The general debate included a large number
of common themes, including praise for India for
completing its CW destruction on time, and
welcoming the Dominican Republic as the newest
Qwelcoming the Dominican Republic as the newest
member state. Many statements recognized Iraq's
declaration of its former CW program as an

important milestone. The usual calls were made for
timely completion of CW destruction efforts, as
well as full implementation of Articles X and XI.
Some statements urged more progress to be made in
the industry cluster, as well as pleas for
volunteers to facilitate consultations on the OCPF
site selection methodology and on Article XI. Most
noted the importance of having a consensus
candidate for the next Director-General.


14. (U) With regard to the DG search, differences
emerged in several of the statements. The European
Union called for an open, simple and transparent
process, as did the U.S. The NAM and the African
Group called for further consultations to lay out
"modalities" and procedural steps to ensure a
transparent, all-inclusive process. Brazil called
for a review of qualifications of candidates
without inflicting complex selection modalities.
Saudi Arabia urged equitable representation. The
African Group also specifically called for the DG
to come from Africa and encouraged support for the
Algerian candidate, Ambassador Dani. Dani used
Algeria's national statement to introduce his own
candidacy in flowery French.


15. (SBU) Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun stated that
the selection process should set the norm for
future candidates by outlining "guiding
principles...carried out statutorily, (with)
psychological and procedural preparations...fully
made." (Del note: This caused some stir among
delegations. Later, a Chinese delegate told Delrep
that the "psychological" reference in their
national statement was not about the candidates,
but rather warning delegations that they should be
mentally ready to consider other possibilities --
i.e., voting -- if consensus is not reached. End
note.)


16. (U) The Iraqi national statement outlined
Iraq's historical overview of its accession
process, highlighting the assistance provided by
the U.S., UK, Japan and the TS. Iraq maintained
that the security situation would not prevent Iraq
from destroying its CW but asked for assistance
from its friends in this endeavor. The statement
also noted how some Iraqi CW material had been
looted during the conflicts, while others had been
buried, creating environmental and safety concerns
that will require international assistance.


17. (U) With regard to Iraq, the U.S. pointed to
the need for forward-looking assistance to Iraq in
both destroying its CW stockpile and implementing
the rest of the Convention. India stressed the
need to consider the unique circumstances in Iraq
when deciding on a fair deadline for CW
destruction. Iran focused considerably on Iraq
and, while welcoming Iraq's accession, highlighted
the aggression of the former Iraqi regime against
the Iranian and Iraqi populations. Iran also noted
that perpetrators should not enjoy impunity and
that states whose nationals or companies were
involved in the transfer of chemicals and equipment
to Iraq's chemical weapons program should be
brought to justice. Iran offered any requisite
assistance to Iraq with implementing the Convention
and destroying its CW stockpile. Serbia welcomed
Qand destroying its CW stockpile. Serbia welcomed
Iraq's presentations on its past program as well as
the U.S. and UK explanations of activities in Iraq.


18. (U) The Pakistani and Russian national
statements referred to the U.S. and UK statements
at the destruction informals the day before
concerning recovery of CW munitions in Iraq.
Russian Ambassador Kiril Gevorgian stated that

Russia would be "thoroughly examining all aspects
of this matter" and reserved its right to return to
it at a later stage. On Russia's own destruction
efforts, Gevorgian contended that Russia faces an
"extremely complex challenge" to complete the
destruction of its entire stockpile in 2012.


19. (U) China drew attention to its most important
issue: Japanese abandoned CW (ACW). Ambassador
Zhang argued that ACW pose a grave security concern
to the Chinese population. With the looming 2012
destruction deadline fast approaching, Zhang
criticized Japan for failing to even begin their
destruction efforts of ACW in China. Zhang also
called for industry inspections to be "pursued in
keeping with the principle of fairness and
reasonableness."


20. (U) Of particular note on the destruction issue
was Brazil's renewed call for the Council to
address the feasibility of the 2012 deadline being
met by possessor states sooner rather than later,
and that a new specific item should be added to the
EC agenda on this matter.


21. (U) Using even stronger language than they had
at EC-55 in February, both the African Group and
NAM again condemned Israel's use of white
phosphorus in Gaza in January and called for
international investigations into the matter.


22. (U) Brazil, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and
Serbia commented on Article X issues, noting the
need to identify the resources to be placed at the
disposal of the DG for emergency assistance and the
removal of transfer restrictions on the provision
of protective technology and equipment. Brazil
noted that it would organize the first Assistance
and Protection Course on Chemical Emergency
Response for the GRULAC (Latin America and
Caribbean Group) region.


23. (U) Echoing the NAM statement, India, Iran and
Saudi Arabia all noted the lack of progress in full
implementation of Article XI, and called for the
lifting of transfer restrictions and development of
an action plan.


24. (U) Concerning industry cluster issues, several
countries recommended that the Council appoint
facilitators for the remaining two open
consultations. India maintained its view of
concerns of distribution methodology and
enhancement of OCPF declarations, while the United
States cited the need for OCPF inspections to be
focused on relevant sites.

--------------
Debate on the DG Selection Process
--------------


25. (U) On April 22, EC Chairperson Tomova opened
the plenary discussion on the appointment of the
Director-General. She reported that she had
carried out consultations that included all
geographic regions and written a report (EC-56/3
dated 16 April 2009) on those consultations.
Because of the subject matter, many ambassadors
participated, unusual for a Wednesday afternoon.


26. (U) Several states made interventions about the
need for a regional rotation when selecting the new
Director-General, and called for guidelines for the
process (Pakistan, Malaysia, Libya, Iran and
India). Others responded that having a regional
rotation was in direct conflict with choosing the
most qualified person for the position (UK,
Qmost qualified person for the position (UK,

Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Cuba, Chile,
Ireland, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Sri Lanka,
Japan, Colombia). As had happened at EC-55, the
Latin American states came out forcefully in
support of the Chairperson and the current open,
step-by-step process, as did the EU and WEOG
countries. There was general agreement on the
importance of working by consensus on this issue.


27. (U) Pakistan, South Africa and Iran requested
that the text of the Chairperson's report be
changed; all three objected to paragraphs implying
agreement by the regional groups. The delegates
contended that the regional group coordinators were
not acting on behalf of their groups when they met
with the Chair and thus had no mandate for
"agreements." Others countered that the
Chairperson's report was her own, reflecting her
consultations, and the report did not require the
Council's concurrence.


28. (U) Most delegations agreed that the
intersessional consultations were important,
praising the Chairperson for her good work, and
stating that the selection process should continue
in an open and transparent manner. The Council
agreed that consultations should continue under the
new Chairperson (Mexican Ambassador Jorge Lomonaco)
in May. Lomonaco intervened toward the end to
state that he had taken careful note of all the
views expressed, thanked Ambassador Tomova for her
excellent start and considerable efforts in
launching the process, and noted what a large job
he would be filling.


29. (U) Tomova addressed the Council at the end of
the debate, saying that it was important to hear
all points of view and that the discussions need to
continue. She then closed discuss by moving on to
the next agenda item.


30. (SBU) On April 23, during formal discussion of
the draft report for the Council session, South
Africa, Pakistan, Iran and India objected to
language that the Council had "received" the
Chairperson's report on the appointment of the
Director-General. After inconclusive discussion in
the plenary, Tomova moved the discussion to a small
room with interested parties. In a standing-room-
only setting, the delegates from South Africa and
Pakistan, with some support from Iran (surprisingly
represented by only their new, junior delegate) and
India, resisted language acknowledging the
Chairperson's report and language that clearly
invited all candidates for the DG position to come
to EC-56. These delegations pushed for ongoing
consultations to address the "modalities" for their
appearance (how long they might speak, topics they
might address, whether there would be an
opportunity for questions, etc.). After long hours
of circuitous arguments, the informal meeting came
up with a convoluted sentence that all could
(reluctantly) agree on. It called for continuing
consultations but also noted that candidates would
be invited to present themselves to the July
session of the EC.

--------------
Administrative and Financial Matters
--------------


31. (SBU) South African delegate Marthinus van
Schalkwyk insisted that a number of administrative
QSchalkwyk insisted that a number of administrative
and financial documents be deferred for
consideration to EC-57. Despite two consultations
on the two Office of Internal Oversight (OIO)
reports, van Schalkwyk used his absence from both

meetings as an excuse for deferral. Additionally,
he indicated that action should be postponed until
the Advisory Body on Administrative and Financial
Matters (ABAF) considered the reports and provided
their substantive comments to the Council. (Del
Comment: Van Schalkwyk was one of three new
African nominees to the ABAF approved at EC-55.
His increasingly pugnacious behavior does not bode
well for the ABAF. End Comment.)

--------------
SAB Report
--------------


32. (U) Despite having objected to noting the
Scientific Advisory Board's (SAB) report during
previous EC session, Iran remained quiet and let
the report go through. However, after Chairperson
Tomova's report on the meeting of governmental
experts to consider the SAB report, Iran requested
the EC-56 report include language taken directly
from the Second Review Conference (RevCon) on the
DG making best use of the SAB's expertise. Despite
repeated comments by the DG that he plans to issue
a paper on improving the functioning of the SAB,
Iran insisted on inserting a lengthy quotation
which included a reference to the use of
governmental experts. After informal consultations
between Tomova and the Iranian delegation, Iran
finally agreed to simply refer to their desired
RevCon passage rather than inserting it verbatim.

--------------
Any Other Business -- UK Report
--------------


33. (U) Under AOB, the United Kingdom gave an
update on an issue raised in the informal session
before EC-44 (March 2006) on a Schedule 2 facility
that had raised uncertainty during an inspection.
The UK recognized a problem and conducted a
criminal investigation which brought charges
against two directors of the company and resulted
in the first prosecution under the UK's Chemical
Weapons Act of 1996. Both directors were convicted
and fined. The UK National Authority reviewed its
implementation regime following this case and has
developed a number of lessons learned. (A copy of
the UK statement has been sent to ISN/CB).

--------------
Items Approved
--------------


34. (U) The following items were approved:

EC-56/DEC.3 Facility agreement with the United
States regarding on-site inspections at a Schedule
1 facility.

EC-56/DEC.4 Amendments to the facility agreement
with Iran for a Schedule 1 protective purposes
facility. (Del Note: The two associated TS notes
are listed below under "Items Noted." End Note.)

EC-56/DEC.1 and EC-56/DG.2 Lists of new validated
data for the OPCW Central Analytical Database
(OCAD).

EC-56/DEC.2 Agreement between the OPCW and the UAE
on privileges and immunities.

Appointment to ABAF of Xiong Shuilong (China),vice
Gao Huijun, and Andrei Vitalievitch Kovalenko
(Russia),vice Vladimir A. Iossifov. (Del Note:
Curricula vitae for both nominees were submitted to
the Council and are listed below under "Items

Noted." End Note.) Following informal
consultations, the Council also requested ABAF to
report on its progress in reviewing its work and
procedures to EC-57.

--------------
Items Deferred
--------------


35. (U) The following documents were deferred:

EC-56/S/3* General guidelines on the nature of
continued verification measures at converted CWPFs
ten years after certification of conversion.

EC-53/S/1, EC-53/S/1 (Corr. 1) and EC-53/DEC/CRP.1
Recommendations regarding continued verification
measures at the converted CWPF at CRP Portreath.

EC-55/DG.13 Status of implementation of Article
XI. The Council emphasized the importance of early
appointment of a facilitator for Article XI.

EC-53/S/5 and EC-53/DG.11 Enhancing information on
the characteristics of plant sites in OCPF
declarations and enhancement of OCPF declarations.

EC-55/DG.8 Performance of the modified OCPF site
selection methodology. The Council emphasized the
importance of early appointment of a facilitator on
the issue. The Council also asked the DG to
provide a further progress report at the end of the
second year of implementation of the modified
methodology.

EC-56/S/1 Evaluation of the program for
implementation support. The facilitator for
Article VII announced his intention to hold
consultations on the report prior to EC-57.

EC-56/DG.5 Implementation in 2008 of
recommendations contained in the 2007 OIO annual
report.

EC-56/DG.6 (also C-14/DG.3) 2008 OIO annual
report.

EC-56/DG.3 Reclassification of posts.

--------------
Items Noted
--------------


36. (U) The Council noted the following documents:

EC-56/DG.1 Notification by Russia of changes at
the former CWPF Kaprolaktam Plant, Dzerzinsk.

EC-56/DG.9 Progress made in meeting revised
destruction deadlines.

EC-56/DG.7 Adjustments to the schedule for
submission of 90-day reports on destruction
activities.

EC-55/DG.5 Status of implementation of Article X.
(Del Note: The Iranian delegation was unsuccessful
in its attempts to include language on assistance
for victims in the EC-56 report. End Note.)

EC-55/S/2 (including corrigenda 1 and 2)
Evaluation of the effectiveness of Article X
programs. The Council requested the evaluation be
integrated into future reports on the status of
implementation.

EC-54/S/7 and EC-55/S/1 Amendments and

modifications to the facility agreement with Iran
for a Schedule 1 protective purposes facility.

EC-56/DG.8 Income and expenditure for the
financial year to 31 March 2009.

EC-56/DG.4 Alignment of travel related
entitlements with those in the UN.

EC-55/S/6 Status of implementation in 2008 of the
recommendations of the External Auditor.

EC-56/S/2 Curricula vitae of ABAF nominees.

SAB-12/1 Report of the Twelfth Session of the SAB.

EC-55/DG.4 Response of the DG to the SAB report.
The Council also received the Chairperson's report
on the meeting of governmental experts to review
the SAB report to the RevCon (EC-56/2/Rev.1).


37. (U) EC Representative Mikulak cleared this
report.


38. (U) BEIK SENDS.

GALLAGHER