EU SUPPORT FOR G-8 GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP AGAINST WMD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000076

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2020
TAGS: EMIN ENRG ETTC AORC EUN MNNC PARM TBIO KGIC
KNNP, KRAD, XA, XC, XF, G-8
SUBJECT: EU SUPPORT FOR G-8 GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP AGAINST WMD

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Christopher R. Davis
for reason 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: During her January 11 meeting with EU
officials, Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, Coordinator for Threat
Reduction Programs, sought EU support for extending and
expanding the mandate of the G-8 Global Partnership against
the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and
ensuring that the Partnership be adequately resourced into
the future. Senior officials from the European Union Council
Secretariat and the European Commission agreed that the G-8
Global Partnership's mandate should be extended and that it
should take on work in new functional and geographic areas.
The European Commission's Richard Wright was confident that
EU would continue to provide significant financial support,
specifying that EU support to the Global Partnership was
locked in through 2013, when the next multi-year funding
program would be agreed. END SUMMARY

2. (SBU) Ambassador Jenkins was joined in Brussels by
Canada's Troy Lulashnyk, who will chair the Global
Partnership Working Group while Canada leads the G-8 in 2010.
Lulashnyk noted that the G-8 Global Partnership had been
largely successful, with a record of practical
accomplishments centered on chemical weapons destruction and
decommissioning of nuclear submarines. By the end of its
mandate, there would be no more submarines waiting to be
dismantled. It was therefore a good time to turn to new
areas that needed to be addressed, as had already been
recognized under the Japanese G-8 Presidency in 2008. As
the EU possessed a range of policy and program tools for
countering the spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass
Destruction, said Lulashnyk, he and Jenkins had come to
Brussels to seek EU views on what the Global Partnership's
new priorities should be.

3. (SBU) Lulashnyk explained that he and Jenkins would be
visiting other EU capitals as part of the effort to define
future objectives and build support for an enhanced future
effort. He noted that Canada would host a Weapons of Mass
Destruction Threat Experts Conference in Ottawa on January 25
that would consider combating the global biological threat,
nuclear security and scientist redirection and engagement. A
G-8 Global Partnership Working Group meeting would be held
the following day for all 23 G-8 Global Partnership members.
Lulashnyk underlined that this was fully consonant with
President Obama's upcoming Nuclear Security Summit.

4. (SBU) Ambassador Jenkins said that the U.S. supported
both the expansion and extension of the G-8 Global
Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of
Mass Destruction. Details on how long to extend it and how
much funding the U.S. would devote to it would be taken soon.


5. (SBU) The EU's Annalisa Giannella, the High Rep's
Personal Representative on Non-Proliferation, said that while
some chemical weapons and plutonium disposition programs were
funded by the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy budget
and overseen by the EU Council Secretariat, most work was
being carried out through European Commission programs. The
EU was the major donor to the IAEA's nuclear security fund.
As for future non-proliferation priorities, she cited the
Balkans, North Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, and South East
Asia as key areas. Biological security was a priority. She
said the EU would like to engage further on scientist
redirection and export controls. As for geographic scope,
Gianella agreed that it was time to expand the Global
Partnership's geographic scope beyond Russia and the Ukraine.

Shared Priorities

6. (SBU) The European Commission's Richard Wright affirmed
that the EU shared U.S. and Canadian priorities. He cited
nuclear safety; biological safety; and export controls as
areas that deserve an enhanced focus. He touched on the EU's

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plan to establish regional CBRN Centers of Excellence in
South East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa over the next
three to five years. He suggested that these Centers could
be used to support the Global Partnership. Jenkins and
Lulashnyk both agreed that the Centers of Excellence might be
able to play a needed capacity-building role.
EU Budget Cycle

7. (SBU) Wright was supportive of extending and expanding the
G-8 Global Partnerst tSBU) LuQashnyk agreed that flexibility was importantbut
noted that for small countries, it was often easier to
contribute money to a central pool. He noted that the IAEA
nuclear security fund allowed them to contribute to action in
situations when bilateral action was impossible for them. He
acknowledged that multilateral funds often failed to be
responsive and effective, as demonstrated by the Chernobyl
Containment project.
Russia's Role

10. (SBU) Turning to Russia, Richard Wright asked how Russia
could move from being the G-8 Global Partnership's major
beneficiary to playing a role as a contributor. Russia could
do more on scientist engagement, addressing trans-regional
threats such as smuggling without duplicating the work now
being done by the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear
Terrorism. On the issue of scientist engagement, Wright
expressed interest in the future of the International Science
and Technology Center (ISTC),raising the possibility of
shifting its focus in some way, while still keeping a
non-proliferation element to its work, which is a requirement
for EU funding; all parties agreed to continue discussing
this issue. Lulashnyk agreed that Russia had been the major
beneficiary of programs on chemical weapons, submarines and
nuclear security and now had a new list of priorities, such
as dealing with waste and fuel for their navy. Before the
crisis, Russia had expressed interest in playing a role as a
donor and has put between 7-8 Billion dollars in to the G-8
Global Partnership. Jenkins added that Russia had continued
to express the desire to move from recipient to partner.
Summit Goals and Prospects

11. (C) Lulashnyk said that Canada's Summit goals for the
G-8 Global Partnership were likely to center on extending the
Partnership, expanding the Partnership's activities into new
regions and functions and securing future funding. There

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had been expressions of support for extension from London,
Paris, Berlin, Rome and Tokyo, he said. Giannella commented
that Russia seemed to be "reluctant" about geographic
expansion. Lulashnyk explained the perception of Russian
opposition might stem from Moscow's feeling that it had been
assured funding from France and Italy that had not
materialized. In Canada-Russia bilateral meetings, however,
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov had not opposed expansion of
the partnership, as long as Russia continued to benefit from
the partnership's future activity. Jenkins said that the
U.S. had gotten a similar message from Russia: expansion was
acceptable as long as existing commitments were met,
including the chemical issue.

12. (U) This cable was cleared by Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins,
Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs.
KENNARD