GERMANY OUTLINES GOALS FOR NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000149 SIPDIS ISN FOR AMB. JENKINS NSC FOR CONNERY AND HOLGATE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2020 TAGS: PARM EAID TBIO IAEA NPT AORC CDG ENRG MUNC PGOV, PREL, UNGA, GM SUBJECT: GERMANY OUTLINES GOALS FOR NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT THIRD SHERPA MEETING REF: A. STATE 07493 ¶B. BERLIN 113 Classified By: Global Affairs Chief Donald L. Brown, for reasons 1.4 (b ) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. Germany has two main objectives for the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) sherpa meeting in The Hague. Germany hopes to get closer to a consensus on the NSS communiqu and work plan and also would like to come to an agreement on a summit schedule that will please Merkel's Chancellery. Germany made clear to the Dutch its concerns about the burden of various non-proliferation initiatives. Germany will send four representatives to the sherpa meeting. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Econoff met with German MFA nuclear energy desk officer Joerg Polster and Dutch political first secretary Erik-Jan van Oosterhout to deliver the points from Ref A. In response, Polster laid out the German goals for the sherpa meeting, focusing on the summit agenda and documents. Polster said the summit's current agenda (dinner, followed by a day of meetings and press events) will not hold the attention of 44 heads of state. While Chancellor Merkel is planning to attend, he said, she prefers a tight schedule. Polster proposed a dinner, with a public communiqu signing ceremony the next morning, followed by sherpa meetings and optional meetings for principals. A day spent reading 44 national statements, he said, would be unproductive and a bad idea. ¶3. (C) Polster focused on Germany's two main goals for the summit communiqu and work plan. The first is to discuss nuclear disarmament in a way that includes the views of states without nuclear weapons. To accomplish this, he said the discussion must include controlling not only weapons-grade uranium that could be used to make a traditional bomb ("the biggest threat"),but also other fissile and radioactive material that could be used to make a radioactive dispersal device (RDD, or "dirty bomb"--"the most probable threat"). Polster also said the summit documents should also at least mention the importance of securing nuclear facilities. ¶4. (C) Germany's second goal for the summit documents is to separate discussions of the G8 and its Global Partnership (GP) from the NSS. It is not the place, Polster said, of the 44 NSS countries to release a document instructing the G8 on how to conduct the GP's work. Polster said the current drafts of the communiqu in which the NSS participants "recognize the efforts" of the GP are good steps in the right direction. ¶5. (C) Polster shared with the Dutch his views (Ref B) on the burden Germany perceives from the proliferation of non-proliferation initiatives and the need to find "coherence" among them. He suggested discussing this at the sherpa meeting and making it an agenda item at meetings of the other non-proliferation initiatives. ¶6. (SBU) Although Ref A had asked for participation to be limited to 3 individuals per country, Polster said that Germany would be sending 4: MFA Ambassador Elbling, Polster, Ministry of Economics official Axel Goehner and Ministry of Environment Official Hockamp-Mack. Murphy