EXBS: ARMENIA ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000328

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR ISN/ECC - YWONG, ACHURCH, RBALDWIN, JHARTSHORN
DEPT FOR ISN/ECC-AMT - LSPRINGER
DEPT FOR EUR/ACE - RBUCK
CBP/INA FOR PWARKER, RORME
USDOE/NNSA FOR TPERRY, DOC FOR PETERSEN-BEARD
AMEMBASSY TASHKENT, ASTANA, DUSHANBE, ASHGABAT,
BAKU, ANKARA PASS TO EXBS ADVISOR
AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PASS TO SLEA

E.O. 12985: N/A
TAGS: EXBS INL ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP
AM
SUBJECT: EXBS: ARMENIA ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE
FOR APRIL 2009.

YEREVAN 00000328 001.2 OF 002




1. ITEMS OF BROAD INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY MANAGERS

NONE


2. SITE ASSESSMENTS AND MEETINGS DURING REPORTING PERIOD

April 1 - 10 - EXBS Advisor on leave.

April 27 - EXBS Advisor and program assistant attended the "Day of
the Border Guard" ceremony. During his address to the troops,
General Abrahamyan mentioned the assistance received from the US
Government, how important this assistance was to the success of the
border guards, and thanked the US Government for the assistance. He
also announced a plan to convert all border guard troops from
conscripts to contract soldiers. The plan will go into effect on 1
May 2009 and is scheduled to be complete by 1 May 2011, at which
time all border guard troops will be contracted.

April 28 - EXBS Advisor and DCM met with Artak Shaboyan, Deputy
Chief of State Revenues Committee to follow up on our March meeting
to discuss utilization of EXBS equipment issued to Customs. Prior to
starting the meeting, Mr. Shaboyan expressed his gratitude for the
recent radiation detection training conducted at the Hammer
institute in Washington State. He commented on the organization of
the training and the quality of the training staff. The twenty
customs officers that attended were very impressed with the training
and found it very useful. Mr. Shaboyan started the meeting by
informing us that he had personally travelled to all the regions,
conducted inventories of equipment, and asked questions about
equipment usage. He did find some discrepancies in inventories and a
lack of knowledge at some customs houses. He and his team conducted
training, updated inventories, and assured us that all equipment was
being utilized at all ports and customs houses. Mr. Shaboyan briefly
touched on changes in customs enforcement structure concerning
examination and anti-smuggling units. He also invited us to visit
ports and let him know personally if we found any problems with
inspection procedures or equipment usage. Just before the meeting
ended, Mr. Shaboyan requested that we supply customs with more metal
detectors since they have had a lot of success detecting contraband
using metal detectors in the past. We agreed to consider his request
and asked him to forward it in writing to the embassy.

April 29 - 30 - EXBS Advisor attended a workshop conducted by ISN
concerning export controls and enforcement. The Department of
Commerce presentations on the US Export Control System catch all
controls, end user controls, weapons transfers and arms brokering,
and risk assessment. The Armenian delegation gave briefings on their
export control and licensing systems and the munitions control
process. ISN will be sending a detailed cable of this workshop and
follow up actions.

April 30 - EXBS Advisor, program assistant and Mr. Joe Baldwin,
ISN/ECC, met with Mr. Karen Gasparyan, director of the
Nonproliferation Center (NPC) to discuss the upcoming WMD incident
response training and updates on plans to change the Armenian
licensing process. Mr. Gasparyan informed us that the government of
Armenia is going to issue a decree to split the military control
list, transferring licensing control of approximately fifty percent
of the items contained on the list to the Export Control Commission.
The Military Technical Commission will retain control for licensing
of the remaining items. The government also intends to issue a
decree giving a "government guarantee" to all end user certificates
issued by Armenian companies. EXBS will follow up on the status of
both of these decrees.


YEREVAN 00000328 002.2 OF 002



3. TRAINING CONDUCTED DURING REPORTING PERIOD

DOE NNSA conducted radiation detection training at the HAMMER
institute in Washington State 13-17 April 2009, for 20 Armenian
Customs Officers.



4. EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING REPORTING PERIOD

NONE


5. IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS UPDATE

Training:


1. Executive exchange for 10 Armenian Border, Customs, and
Government officials which was tentatively scheduled for October
2008 has been moved to spring 2009.

2. DTRA will conduct a WMD Incident Response exercise May 11 - 15,

2009.

3. DOE has tentatively scheduled ASCOT training for June 18 - 19,

2009.

Equipment:

Ground sensors for the Armenian Border Guards have finally been
cleared through the permit and customs process and will be released
to the Border Guards on May 18.


6. SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN EXPORT CONTROLS, NON-
PROLIFERATION OR RELATED BORDER SECURITY

NONE


7. Red Flag Issues

NONE


8. Any questions or comments can be directed to Paul Shott, EXBS
Advisor, telephone: (374 10)49-43-45, Fax: (374 10)46-47-42, Email:
shottpj@state.gov or EXBS Program Assistant Armen Tovmasyan,
telephone: (374 10)49-43-65, email: tovmasyanav@state.gov
Yovanovitch