(S) RECENT DISCUSSIONS ON JOINT ACTION PLAN

S E C R E T YEREVAN 000763 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2019 TAGS: ETTC PARM PREL MASS AM SUBJECT: (S) RECENT DISCUSSIONS ON JOINT ACTION PLAN REF: A. STATE 98545 ¶B. YEREVAN 750 ¶C. YEREVAN 759 Classified By: AMB Marie L. Yovanovitch, reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (S/NF) Per action request in ref A, Post met with senior government officials -- the President, Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and Economics Minister -- to obtain a progress report on Armenia's fulfillment of its commitment under the Joint Action Plan, and to stress the importance of Armenia carrying out its commitments to strengthen its export controls. Post used the October 16 visit of the ISN Acting DAS Ann Ganzer delegation and the October 20-21 visit of EUR DAS Tina Kaidanow to demarche Armenia's leaders on this issue. Refs B and C provide read-outs of the meetings and the progress that Armenia has made to date on strengthening its export controls. ¶2. (S/NF) Subsequently, the Ambassador met October 28 with Economic Minister Nerses Yeritsian to brief him on the Plan, the tragic events that led to the Plan, and why it was critical that the Ministry of Economy ensure a highly productive November 9-13 visit by U.S. Department of Commerce and Defense officials to discuss the strengthening of Armenia's export controls on dual-use strategic goods. The Ambassador stressed to Minister Yeritsian the importance of Armenia making tangible, meaningful progress on strengthening its dual use controls -- i.e., legislative and regulatory changes -- no later than February-March 2010. ¶3. (S/NF) Yeritsian said that he understood the importance of dual-use reforms, and that he was aware of the Plan because one of his staffers had been a member of the Armenian delegation that negotiated the agreement in Washington last March. He noted that the ministry had just hosted a visit by EU dual use experts from Portugal who, according to Yeritsian, found that Armenia was by and large in compliance with EU standards on dual-use controls. He promised to share the experts' report with the Ambassador. (NOTE: The Embassy will also try to track down the report through the EU Ambassador in Armenia. END NOTE.) He said, however, that he would welcome a U.S. assessment of Armenian dual-use controls, and welcomed the upcoming visit. ¶4. (S/NF) Yeritsian said it was essential that--after the assessment--"we train the right people" to implement Armenia's dual-use controls, concentrating specifically on Customs (which, with the Tax Administration, administratively falls under Armenia's State Revenues Committee). The Ambassador agreed, and told Yeritsian she hoped to meet with President Sargsian after her return from Washington to impress upon him the importance of Customs playing a lead--and clean--role in strengthening dual-use controls. Yeritsian silently nodded in agreement. (COMMENT: Yeritsian has frequently shared with the Embassy his disdain for the corrupt Customs and Tax Administrations headed by Gagik Khachatrian, the head of the State Revenues Committee. END COMMENT.) ¶5. (S/NF) The Ambassador plans to arrange meetings between Minister Yeritsian and the incoming delegation Commerce and Defense officials, to ensure clear communications with his Ministry on this issue, to keep him abreast of the delegation's assessment and recommendations, and to inform him of any bureaucratic resistance that the delegation's interlocutors might encounter. ¶6. (S/NF) The Ambassador also met with Foreign Minister Nalbandian on October 29 to stress the importance of making the upcoming dual-use consultations productive. She noted that during the Ganzer delegation meetings, the enthusiasm of the Armenian working level interlocutors visibly waned once DFM Kirakossian -- the one person in the room who was aware of the Plan and the reasons for it -- left the room. The Ambassador stressed that the Foreign Minister needed to make it abundantly clear to those MFA participants in the scheduled dual-use talks that he expected their full commitment to productive engagement in the reform process, even if they weren't clued in to the reasons necessitating the reforms. The Foreign Minister said he would deliver that message. (COMMENT: Because of the secrecy in which the GOAM has shrouded the Plan, almost all of Armenia's working-level contacts have little or no idea why they are being tasked by the U.S. Government on these issues. To overcome this, Post has and will continue to intervene with the President and other senior Armenian leaders to secure their assistance in properly motivating the working level. END COMMENT.) YOVANOVITCH