ROMANIAN RESPONSE TO CITES DEMARCHE TALKING POINTS

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 000079 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/CE ASCHEIBE, OES/ENRC LLOYD GAMBLE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KSCA CITES AORC UNEP RO SUBJECT: ROMANIAN RESPONSE TO CITES DEMARCHE TALKING POINTS REF: A) STATE 6668; B) BUCHAREST 0055 ¶1. This is an Action Request for the Department; please see paragraph 6. This is a follow-on cable to post's original response on this issue (ref B). ¶2. Econoff met with Mr. Silviu Megan, Romania's National CITES Representative in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, on February 10 to discuss ref A talking points. Megan stated very clearly that the European Union member states will arrive at a consensus EU position and then vote as a block in CITES. Although he could not guarantee what the EU consensus position would be, he shared Romania's current views on each proposal. ¶3. Romania supports the proposals on sharks, coral, and polar bears. Megan stated that Romania has not yet formed a position on the snake proposal and will need to better understand the position of other Asian countries that would be impacted and what financial contributions would be required to implement it. ¶4. While he understands the U.S. position on bobcats, Mr. Megan stated that Romania cannot support the removal of bobcats from Annex 1 at this time. He cited concerns about the difficulty and expense of distinguishing bobcats from the Eurasian and Iberian Lynx as the rationale for this position. While he is aware of the online training developed by the United States, he felt it was too challenging to implement, particularly at customs inspection points. ¶5. Although the Ministry of Environment has given initial authorization for a Romanian delegation to travel to the conference, final approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still pending. ¶6. Action Request: Megan requested information about the U.S. position on the EU proposal to add the shark species porbeagle (lamna nasus) and spiny dogfish (squalus acanthias) to CITES Appendix II. In response to this inquiry, post welcomes any additional guidance the Department can provide that we can share with our Romanian interlocutors. GITENSTEIN