SUBJECT: OPEN SKIES, OPENING OF ROUND: TWO

UNCLAS USOSCE 000204 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA JCS FOR J-5 OSD FOR ISA (KEHL, WALLENDER) NSC FOR NILSSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE SUBJECT: SUBJECT: OPEN SKIES, OPENING OF ROUND: TWO U.S.-PROPOSED DECISIONS ADOPTED ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The U.S.-proposed decisions on Rules and Working Methods and on establishing an Informal working Group (IWG) for the forthcoming review conference were adopted by the Open Skies plenary on September 14. A highlight of reports on completed flights was the incident-free British-Georgian mission over southern Russia. The Chair of the Informal Sensors Working Group on Sensors (IWGS) will hold a workshop in October and a full working group session in December. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) During the opening session of the Fall OSCC on September 14, the U.S.-proposed decision on Rules of Procedure and Working Methods for the 2010 Review Conference as well as the U.S.-proposed decision on establishing an IWG for the review conference were adopted without further comment. The decisions have been distributed as OSCC.DEC/5/09 and OSCC.DEC/6/09 respectively. Following adoption, the U.S. (Neighbour) thanked States Parties for supporting the decisions and invited all parties to consider proposals for national contributions to conference development. Neighbour also announced that the U.S. would soon set a date for the first IWG meeting. ¶3. (SBU) States Parties, including the Russian Federation, the UK, Georgia, Turkey, Croatia, and Canada reported on Open Skies flights completed since the last OSCC. The UK (MacLeod) and Georgia (Giorgadze) highlighted the professionalism of the UK-Georgia flight over Russia, which took place in late August and announced that the UK and Russia would conduct an similar flight over Georgia in the near future. Croatia (Klanac) thanked Ukraine for its prompt response in attending to an injured Croatian inspector during its recent flight over Ukraine. ¶4. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) read a letter to the OSCC from the IWGS Chairman (U.S.-- Scott Simmons) announcing details of the upcoming Sensors Workshop from 1-7 October 2009, which will focus on testing Visual Analysis protocols using real visual data sets. Simmons' letter also announced that a full session of the IWGS will be held in the first half of December, dates to be confirmed. ¶5. (SBU) The next OSCC is scheduled for Monday, 19 October at 10:00 a.m. with Bulgaria as Chair. The Quarterly quota distribution meeting will take place 8-9 October. FULLER FULLER