KEY PARIS PACT MEMBERS URGE RESULTS RATHER THAN MEETINGS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 UNVIE VIENNA 000284 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM PREL PTER SNAR UN AF PK CA RU IT UK SW AS NL, FR, GM SUBJECT: KEY PARIS PACT MEMBERS URGE RESULTS RATHER THAN MEETINGS REF: A: UNVIE VIENNA 249 ¶B. UNVIE 006 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an informal June 9 meeting, key Paris Pact members agreed to continue their support for the Pact. They also agreed to use 2010 to review the implementation of recommendations from three past roundtables -- precursors, financial flows, and cross-border management. In addition, they proposed benchmarks to guide the review. For precursors, proposed benchmarks include seizure statistics, prosecution rates, countries involved in operations, and information sharing. For financial flows, proposed benchmarks are prosecution rates, ratification of the relevant United Nations instruments to combat terrorist financing, number of accounts seized, and implementation of legal frameworks to combat corruption. For cross-border management, proposed benchmarks are seizures at the border, and quality and effectiveness of cross-border information sharing. Participants at the June 9 meeting agreed to have these ideas considered by the next annual Policy Consultative Group (PCG) meeting scheduled for November/December ¶2009. On behalf of the June 9 meeting participants, Counselor forwarded these conclusions to the independent consultant who will include the review of past round tables as a recommendation in his evaluation report on the Paris Pact for UNODC. Besides the conclusions on the review and the benchmarks, meeting participants also heard Russia advocate partnership with regional bodies in which Russia plays a leadership role. Russia and France also advocated greater Paris Pact involvement in the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions. END SUMMARY. -------------- Challenges for the Paris Pact -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In the wake of the briefing by the independent consultant (Neil Bailey of UK's Omega Consultancy) UNODC hired to evaluate the Paris Pact (Ref A),Counselor hosted an informal meeting of core Paris Pact member states on June 9 to discuss ways to improve the Pact's operational effectiveness. Representatives from Australia, Canada, France Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden and U.K. attended this meeting. All present agreed that their countries would continue to support the Paris Pact because it serves a useful political purpose by bringing together countries some of which have few other channels for interacting with one another. Nevertheless, all have been frustrated by the paucity of concrete results from the 15 annual expert roundtables which have been held since 2003. ¶3. (SBU) Canada criticized UNODC for giving the same presentations at expert roundtables and at the annual Policy Consultative Group (PCG) meetings. Some also criticized the growing propensity for certain countries to send diplomats rather than experts to the roundtables, thus directing focus on political rather than operational issues. UK stressed the importance of roundtable participation by "the right people and the right countries," particularly because the Paris Pact had not been well-attended by critical central Asian countries. Counselor suggested establishing focal points of contact to encourage information sharing among experts. France noted that focal points already exist in the Automated Donor Assistance Mechanism (ADAM) but are insufficient. Others did not embrace the focal points idea, claiming that ADAM has been largely ineffective. -------------- Picking Roundtables for Review -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Counselor proposed that member states should use the next annual Policy Consultative Group (PCG) meeting, in November/December 2009, to review past accomplishments, rather than to choose new topics for the next three roundtables in 2010. All agreed the Pact should not be a forum for indefinite roundtables, and member states should find ways to evaluate the implementation of recommendations from past round tables. They also agreed with Counselor's suggestion to choose two or three past roundtables for such an evaluation. There was consensus that past roundtables on precursors, financial flows and cross-border cooperation should be selected for such review, and that instead of selecting new topics, the November/December 2009 PCG meeting should adopt the idea to review the three past roundtables in 2010. -------------- Choosing Benchmarks UNVIE VIEN 00000284 002 OF 003 -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Participants then discussed benchmarks for measuring the results of these past roundtables. Counselor noted that on the margins of the last PCG meeting in December 2008, Ambassadors (of the countries represented at the June 9 meeting) had urged UNODC to develop metrics to measure the success of the Pact (Ref B). Germany suggested that it would be helpful to solicit UNODC and country feedback on implementation to date. Canada reminded attendees that some recommendations had been implemented and integrated into UNODC's Rainbow Strategy, so examining those recommendations would be a good place to start with the review. Following French suggestions, meeting participants reached consensus that for precursors, benchmarks should include seizure statistics, prosecution rates, countries involved in operations, and information sharing. For financial flows, the benchmarks should include prosecution rates, ratification of the relevant United Nations instruments to combat terrorist financing, number of accounts seized, and implementation of legal frameworks to combat corruption. For cross-border management, proposed benchmarks are seizures at the border, and quality and effectiveness of cross-border information sharing. -------------- Russian and French Comments -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Russia advocated greater Paris Pact cooperation with regional bodies such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). It also urged Paris Pact involvement in the implementation and enforcement of UN Security Council resolutions by listing suspected traffickers and terrorists. France supported the use of UN Security Council resolutions, especially in the area of sanctions. However, the French representative suggested that Vienna's Friends of Afghanistan Group, rather than the Paris Pact, may be a more suitable venue for tackling the issue of sanctions. ¶7. (SBU) In addition, France noted that other regions, such as the Andean countries, were modeling parts of their multilateral counternarcotics efforts on the Paris Pact. He also urged improved regional cooperation in Central Asia, an early goal of the Pact which he said has not yet been realized. -------------- Follow up Action -------------- ¶8. (U) Counselor summarized the conclusions for the attendees, and offered to forward them to independent consultant Neil Bailey for incorporation in the evaluation report he is preparing for UNODC. She circulated the drafted conclusions among the meeting participants on June 10. (Text follows in Annex, para 10.) With no objections from them, she forwarded the conclusions to Bailey on June 15. Bailey replied that he agreed with the conclusions and would include the review of past round tables as a recommendation in his report to the UNODC. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The Paris Pact was conceived in 2003 from a great idea - to coordinate and improve regional cooperation to fight Afghan narcotics. Although it has definitely achieved some successes, it also has become more of a forum for meetings than for action. UNODC was wise to seek an independent evaluation - the second in the Pact history - before proceeding to a third phase. We hope that the conclusions from our informal June 9 meeting will help the Paris Pact to focus more on results rather than meetings. End Comment. -------------- Annex -------------- ¶9. (U) The following text was circulated among the June 9 meeting participants and forwarded to the independent consultant. BEGIN QUOTE: Representatives of the following permanent missions in Vienna met June 9 to discuss ways to make Paris Pact more effective. The participating countries in the meeting were: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, U.K. and U.S. The participants made the following recommendations to improve Paris Pact: 1) All present want to continue to support the Paris Pact, 2) However, all agree that the Pact should not be an indefinite round UNVIE VIEN 00000284 003 OF 003 of roundtables. Instead, there should be some stocktaking of how recommendations from past roundtables have been implemented. A practical way to do it is to choose two or three of past roundtables for in-depth follow up and review, 3) Therefore, at the annual policy consultative group meeting in November/December 2009, member states should decide not decide new topics for the three roundtables in 2010. Instead, they should decide to use 2010 to review the implementation of the recommendations of three past roundtables, 4) There was agreement to choose the following three roundtables for review: a)Precursors, b)Financial flows, c)Cross-border cooperation., 5) There was also agreement that benchmarks should be established for such review. Proposed benchmarks include: a) For precursors: seizure statistics, prosecution rates, countries involved in operations, and information sharing; b) For Financial flows: Prosecution rates, ratification of FATF, number of accounts seized, implementation of legal frameworks to combat corruption, and efforts to combat terrorist financing; implementation of the UNSC resolutions against terrorist financing., c) Cross-border cooperation, with focus on the immediate neighbors at this point (Pakistan and Iran): information-sharing, communication, joint border exercises. END QUOTE SCHULTE