GERMANY DOWNBEAT ON MOVING PAKISTAN AT CONFERENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000204 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2020 TAGS: PARM MNUC KNNP PREL PK GM SUBJECT: GERMANY DOWNBEAT ON MOVING PAKISTAN AT CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT (CD); MAY CONSIDER PARALLEL DISCUSSIONS REF: STATE 13698 Classified By: POLITICAL DEPUTY CHIEF STANLEY OTTO, REASONS, 1.4 (B) AN D (D) ¶1. (C) Poloffs delivered reftel points to MFA Deputy Office Director for Nuclear Arms Control, Stefan Kordasch on February 18. Kordasch said that Germany had already met with Pakistani officials to assuage their concerns about being strong-armed at the CD -- reminding them that no CD agreement could be finalized without consensus. Unfortunately, he said Germany had not received encouraging signals in return. Kordasch questioned whether Pakistan has clearly determined what it wants to achieve in the CD. If -- as some suspect -- Pakistan's main concern is to balance India, Kordasch said, the CD was not the right venue. ¶2. (C) In response to our demarche points, Kordasch agreed that meaningful conversations on the margins of the CD could be a way to make progress toward the FMCT and clearly show Pakistan that the international community truly wants to move forward. However, he stressed that parallel discussions must not undermine the CD process. Kordasch was interested to review the USG demarche suggestions in-depth and promised to follow-up directly with the U.S. CD delegation in Geneva. Murphy