Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09UNVIEVIENNA545
2009-12-04 08:00:00
CONFIDENTIAL
UNVIE
Cable title:  

IO A/S BRIMMER,S FIRST CALL ON DG AMANO AND

Tags:  AORC IAEA KNNP PREL UN JA IR 
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DE RUEHUNV #0545/01 3380800
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FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0370
INFO RUEHII/VIENNA IAEA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA PRIORITY 0167
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PRIORITY 0212
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 0366
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0338
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L UNVIE VIENNA 000545 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR T, P, IO, ISN, IO/GS, ISN/MNSA, ISN/RA
NSC FOR SCHEINMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2019
TAGS: AORC IAEA KNNP PREL UN JA IR
SUBJECT: IO A/S BRIMMER,S FIRST CALL ON DG AMANO AND
MEETINGS WITH IAEA REPS

Classified By: Amassador Glyn T. Davies for reasons 1.4 b and d

Summary
--------

C O N F I D E N T I A L UNVIE VIENNA 000545

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR T, P, IO, ISN, IO/GS, ISN/MNSA, ISN/RA
NSC FOR SCHEINMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2019
TAGS: AORC IAEA KNNP PREL UN JA IR
SUBJECT: IO A/S BRIMMER,S FIRST CALL ON DG AMANO AND
MEETINGS WITH IAEA REPS

Classified By: Amassador Glyn T. Davies for reasons 1.4 b and d

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


1. (C) IO A/S Esther Brimmer, accompanied by IO DAS Nerissa
Cook, was among the first to welcome newly instated IAEA
Director General Yukiya Amano on his first day in office
December 1. She assured Amano of full U.S. support to make
his tenure a success, for which Amano was grateful. Amano
outlined his main objective as DG as addressing global issues
through the promotion of nuclear technology and
nonproliferation. While his first order of business was to
get the IAEA internal house in order, the new DG planned to
be in Washington in January following a call on the UN SYG as
well as in April for the Nuclear Security Summit. Asked how
the U.S. could help in the next six months, Amano cited
nuclear applications as an area which could win broad Member
State "buy-in." He stressed the need for "balance" among
Agency pillars so as to overcome polarization among Member
States and sought to focus on cancer control issues on which
there was a broad convergence of views. Amano also
highlighted upgrading the IAEA laboratories at Seibersdorf as
priority issue for his first term and looked to U.S. support,
in addition to wider support among Member States. He further
noted that he would need U.S. support with the GOJ to ensure
continued Japanese support for the Agency. Commenting on
recent developments in Iran, Amano characterized his role as
DG as technical implementation of safeguards. In contrast to
ElBaradei, Amano explicitly did not see it as his job to
provide political advice to Member States on passing
resolutions or imposing sanctions. This tracks with what
Amano has told other USG interlocutors previously.


2. (SBU) During her visit, A/S Brimmer also met separately
November 30 with a group of key Ambassadors and Mission
representatives on IAEA resourcing issues, including the
Finnish Chair of the Working Group on the Financing of the
Agency. The Dutch Ambassador expressed strong support for a

budget increase and the UK was also notably more forward
leaning than in the past. Participants, all from OECD
countries, acknowledged that G-77 solidarity on technical
cooperation and opposition to increases for nuclear security
would need to be countenanced, while Canada cited more
narrowly targeted use of safeguards resources as a
prerequisite to a budget plus-up. End Summary.

Amano's First Day Goals
--------------


3. (C) Congratulating IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano on
his first day in office December 1, IO A/S Brimmer inquired
about his vision for the Agency and the challenges and
opportunities that lay ahead. Amano noted that his first
order of business was to establish good working relationships
with Agency staff. In a meeting that afternoon, he had
outlined his expectations to staff - an Agency in good order
in which he enjoys their support, enabling him to be
operational as DG as soon as possible. Amano did not plan
any radical changes in IAEA management, but would seek to
make improvements where he could. He had already reassigned
the Chef de Cabinet to the DG, former Dutch diplomat Antoine
Van Dongen, so as to replace him with a capable individual
from a developing country, and saw this position as playing a
coordinating role across departments. Amano said his highest
priority was also to meet with Member States, whom Amano
stressed should not be confronted with surprises about his
views or actions. The new DG planned several trips, first to
Nigeria for a cancer control project and then the second week
of January 2010 to meet with UN SYG Ban Ki Moon and visit
Washington. Ambassador Davies offered assistance in
coordinating the DG's Washington calls. Amano sketched out a
calendar of thematic emphases: He would go to the World
Economic Forum in Davos in February to promote peaceful
nuclear applications; anticipated that the March Board of
Governors meeting would be dominated by Iran safeguards;
would participate in the Nuclear Security Summit in
Washington in April; would emphasize the IAEA budget at the
June Board; and planned to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki
around the time of the anniversary of their WWII bombing. He
noted that he did not view nuclear disarmament as his
principal job (Vienna was not a substitute for Geneva) and
rejected any linkage or conditioning of progress on

nonproliferation to the disarmament agenda, or vice versa,
but believed progress on disarmament would improve the
atmosphere.


4. (C) Amano explained that his overriding objective (and the
reason he had sought the position of IAEA DG) was to "address
global issues through the use of nuclear technology." This
would include nonproliferation, enhancing nuclear security,
meeting energy needs, and IAEA contributions in areas such as
human health (especially cancer control) and water and food
security. He stressed the need for "balance" among Agency
priorities and noted that support for nuclear applications
assures "buy-in" by all countries for the Agency's missions.
In a further effort to overcome polarization among Member
States, Amano planned to devote the Scientific Forum on the
margins of the 2010 IAEA General Conference to IAEA programs
on cancer therapy, an issue on which needs are apolitical and
"polarization" among Member States could be avoided. A/S
Brimmer supported the DG's goal of overcoming North-South
divisions by finding commonalities. She noted that promotion
of peaceful uses through projects such as the cancer therapy
center in Nigeria could help bridge gaps. Amano cited the
personal commitment of the Nigerian First Lady to this cause.
Focusing on a small area of the Agency's work in nuclear
applications, such as cancer therapy, would also enhance the
IAEA's visibility, he added.


5. (C) Reviewing the calendar, Amano took note of the Nuclear
Security Summit and NPT Revcon sandwiched between the March
and June Board sessions. A/S Brimmer agreed that it would be
a busy six months on nonproliferation issues and asked what
the U.S. could do to help. Amano advised that all areas of
IAEA work need support and that demonstrating interest in
nuclear applications would be a particular inducement to
other countries. Helping newcomers to nuclear power would
also be positive, though he acknowledged proliferation risks.
Amano further noted that he would like to meet with those
working on nuclear security at the April Summit. He cited
upgrading the IAEA labratories at Seibersdorf as long
overdue and somehing he hoped to accomplish during his
four-yearterm as DG. It was disturbing that this issue
wich affects the IAEA's ability to implement safeguads was
still unresolved, he opined. Amano acknoledged the
financial contributions to the Safegurds Analytical Lab
(SAL) from the United States,Japan, and Germany. While our
help was essentia to starting and completing the upgrades,
Amano aso hoped for wider support for financing and
impementation so that this would not be perceived as
project of only a few countries.


6. (C) Morebroadly, Amano noted that the World had heard
exactly what it wanted to hear in the President's Prague
speech last April and now it was time for concrete results to
strengthen the NPT. A/S Brimmer highlighted NPT issues as
very important to the President and flagship issues for his
Administration, adding that the U.S. would reinforce its
commitment to nonproliferation in coming months. A/S Brimmer
also queried Amano about the new Japanese government's
support, in concrete terms, for the IAEA, prompting Amano to
quip that he needed U.S. support to get GOJ support (i.e.,
financial contributions). She further noted that in addition
to promoting Amcit employment at the IAEA, the U.S. supported
promotion of women with a view to gender balance, which Amano
agreed was an important point. Concluding the meeting, A/S
Brimmer pledged full U.S. support to make the new DG's tenure
a success. Amano was grateful for U.S. support, without
which the Agency "could not function," he said.

Amano on Iran
--------------


7. (C) Introducing his Special Assistant for Management,
Satoshi Suzuki, who had been seconded by Japan, Amano
explained how the news of Iran's announcement the previous
weekend that it would build 10 new enrichment facilities had
led to immediate in-house consultations. Crediting Suzuki,
Amano said he as DG had been poised to respond at his first
press availability upon taking office the morning of December
1 to the effect that Iran had not formally informed the IAEA
of its plans and that the Agency would follow the issue.
Amano expected that the March Board session would focus on
Iran. The new DG also provided insight on how he sees his
role on Iran. It is up to Member States whether to adopt a

Board resolution, report Iran to the UN Security Council, or
impose sanctions, he opined, "It is not my role to give
advice on this." Rather, the DG's job was to provide
objective information to Member States, implement safeguards,
and to ask Iran to respect IAEA resolutions. (Comment: This
tracks with what Amano has told USG interlocutors several
times previously. In contrast to former DG ElBaradei, Amano
does not see himself as a party to or facilitator of
P5-plus-1 negotiations with Iran. Having served as the IAEA
Governor of Japan and Board Chair, Amano is acutely conscious
of staying in his technical lane as IAEA Director General.
While this is a welcome and largely positive change, it also
means that Amano is unlikely to play as proactive a brokering
role as ElBaradei did on issues such as the Tehran Research
Reactor agreement. Nor is Iran likely to readily trust Amano
playing such a role. End Comment.)

Budget Issues
--------------


8. (SBU) During her visit A/S Brimmer also had a positive
discussion November 30 on management and efficiency issues at
the IAEA with Ambassadors and representatives from the UK,
Japan, Canada, Finland and the Netherlands. The Dutch
Ambassador was not shy about expressing his country's support
for a larger IAEA budget, noting that DG Amano was taking
over "an under-resourced organization." This stand would
normally make the Netherlands an outlier among EU states, but
the UK Ambassador went so far as to agree that perhaps there
was "a goodish case to say the Agency was a wee bit under
resourced" (a modest claim, but very different stance from
the UK's staunchly zero growth position in budget
negotiations earlier this year).


9. (SBU) The Finnish Ambassador, Chair of the Working Group
on Financing the Agency, reiterated her desire to focus
mainly on 2011 during upcoming budget discussions in January.
She acknowledged a strong national position in favor of a
budget increase, but warned that her position as Chair would
require a more neutral approach. She agreed with A/S Brimmer
that while the G-77 often speaks as one, there are enough
divisions among the ranks to create complexities in any
debate. (She offered the recent Iran resolution as an
example of split G-77 support.) At the same time,
participants pointed out overwhelming G-77 solidarity on
Technical Cooperation (TC),leading to the recent withdrawal
of a TC project to implement results-based management (RBM).
Participants agreed that TC is a leading political issue at
the IAEA and that attempts to improve it -- such as RBM --
often come up against a stone wall of G-77 resistance. The
UK Ambassador cited UNODC's budget crisis as an example of
what can happen when Member States start saying, "I'll only
pay for what I'm interested in." Further on budget,
participants noted that the G-77 had rejected Nuclear
Security as a Statutory activity of the IAEA. The Canadian
DCM considered this notion ludicrous, yet nevertheless a huge
obstacle to budgetary increases for Nuclear Security.


10. (SBU) A/S Brimmer also sparked a discussion on high-level
staffing at the IAEA ad the opportunities that lay ahead in
2010 as the majority of DDGs end their contracts and DG Amano
is in a position to bring in new mangers. Participants
agreed that this could be a articular boon for reforming the
Technical Coopeation Department.


11. (SBU) On safeguards resouces, the Canadian
representative asserted the need to take a critical look at
everything the IAEA is doing, as exemplified by the large
portion of the Safeguards budget spent on monitoring Canada,
Japan and Germany. He argued that this misguided practice
should lead to a serious look at developing a new approach to
the Safeguards function. (Comment: In fact, the IAEA spends
twice as much on safeguards in Canada than in DPRK, and five
times as much in Japan than in Iran. The Department of
Safeguards has been working for several years on a
state-level, information-driven approach to arrive at
assurance about the correctness and completeness of states'
declarations, and thereby better target safeguards resources.
But rapid further movement in this direction would need to
be carefully modulated in light of likely resistance from
developing countries. End comment).

Peaceful Uses as Political Bridge, or Bypass

--------------


12. (U) A/S Brimmer's Vienna program concluded with dinner
December 1 hosted by the Ambassador and attended by IAEA
Secretariat officials of varying rank from several
departments -- DDG/Management David Waller (U.S.),
DDG/Nuclear Applications Werner Burkart (Germany),Secretary
of Policy-Making Organs Kwaku Aning (Ghana),DG's Special
Assistant for Science and Technology Graham Andrew (U.K.),
Coordinator in the Office of the DDG for Technical
Cooperation Oscar Acuna (Costa Rica),and Program and Budget
Section Head Carlo Reitano (Italy). DAS Cook and IAEACouns
participated. Aning emphasized that nearly three-quarters of
Member States are developing countries that come to the IAEA
for only two things - help with nuclear applications
including power, and Technical Cooperation. Burkart, Acuna
and Reitano illustrated in different ways the awkward fit of
the IAEA and nuclear applications into development thinking
and policy in most capitals, and suggested solutions. While
thanking the U.S. for its support of a budget increase,
Andrew noted that the 5.4% increase for 2010 would require
the Agency to trim its planned support for nuclear power
newcomers, in particular. Andrew also emphasized that
intractable political issues with dimensions beyond the
nuclear agenda afflict relations in the Agency. Waller,
nonetheless, affirmed that the content and tone of Obama
Administration statements in the Board and elsewhere are
achieving a significant improvement in the atmosphere here.
The strong message of the discussion was: genuine U.S.
contributions to advance apolitical peaceful uses of nuclear
energy for human well-being can improve the impact of the
Agency as well as relations between Member States; however,
some political divisions -- over Israel's status outside the
NPT or suspicion that the Iran case shows how any nuclear
have-not could find itself "punished" for its ambitions --
cannot be healed purely within the IAEA.


13. (U) A/S Brimmer cleared this message
DAVIES