SPAIN: INFORMED OF DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES FOR NSS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000139

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE (ALEX MCKNIGHT, STACIE ZERDECKI) AND
ISN (BONNIE JENKINS, SUSAN BURK)
DEPARTMENT PASS TO NSC (GARY SAMORE, JOYCE CONNERY, LAURA
HOLGATE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2020
TAGS: PARM EAID TBIO IAEA NPT AORC CDG ENRG MNUC
PGOV, PREL, UNGA, SP

SUBJECT: SPAIN: INFORMED OF DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES FOR NSS
AND NPT REVCON

REF: A. SECSTATE 5891

B. SECSTATE 7493

Classified By: POL Counselor William H. Duncan for Reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: POLOFF on February 1 met LTC. Anibal
Villalba Fernandez, an adviser to President Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero on foreign and security issues, to review
Ref A points on the different objectives for the Nuclear
Security Summit (NSS) that President Obama will host in the
Washington DC area during April 12-13, 2010 and the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty's Review Conference (NPT RevCon).
While Villalba understood the different objectives and was
not surprised by any of the Ref points, he focused discussion
on the NSS, which Zapatero will attend, and spent less time
on the NPT RevCon, which Zapatero will not. Post shared Ref
A points with MFA contacts but was unable to speak with them
at length and they had no substantive comments. Similarly,
Post coordinated the delivery of Ref B Note Verbale to the
MFA, although MFA contacts were unavailable for a joint
demarche. END SUMMARY.

//Overall Positive Assessments on the NSS//

2 (C) Villalba, who attended the Sherpa meetings in
Washington and Tokyo and will attend the one in The Hague
during February 9-11, was well-versed in preparations for the
NSS. While Deputy FM Angel Losada is the NSS Sherpa and MFA
DG for Strategic Affairs and Terrorism Carmen Bujan has told
us she is the NSS Sous-Sherpa, Villabla represents the Office
of the President in the working-level preparations. He
commented that he believes it is a good idea to hold the NSS
and assessed that the preparations are going "very well."
Villalba added that Spain has been pleased with the
transparency with which the event is being organized,
suggesting that it is generating goodwill among the attendees
at the Sherpa meetings and is contributing to the open
exchange of ideas. Villalba also praised his NSC contacts
for their substantive knowledge and organizational work.


3. (C) Although informed that the USG envisions no direct
linkages between the NSS and NPT RevCon, Villabla recognized
that the former will conclude 2.5 weeks before the latter
begins and suggested there will be considerable pressure for
the NSS to end on a positive note. He emphasized that the
NSS "must" be successful and applauded the pragmatism of NSS
organizers for their efforts to be inclusive, omitting
divisive items in the search for consensus on complex issues
among nearly four dozen participants. He noted that reaching
consensus on this topic is especially difficult considering
Egypt and Israel are among those invited. As another
positive sign of support for the NSS, Villalba informed
POLOFF that Russia has offered to host a follow-up NSS in

2011.

//Remarks on Attendance at the NSS//


4. (C) Villalba suggested the frequent requests for
additional countries to be added to the list of NSS invitees
have been an encouraging sign. However, he noted that some
countries had pushed back when it was suggested NATO's
Secretary General be invited, reasoning that NATO is a
regional vice worldwide organization and if regional
organizations were to be included, why NATO and not the OSCE
or why not an Asian regional organization? Villalba gave no
indication that Spain shared these views.

//Noting Others' Reservations About Proposed NSS Speakers//


5. (C) Villalba noted that four or five invitees - including
Russia and China, but not Spain - had expressed reservations

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about the proposal that Australia be the one to address the
summit on the risks posed by nuclear terrorism. According to
Villalba, those countries claimed that the IAEA, as a UN
body, would be best qualified to deliver those remarks
because an individual country might inject too much of its
own national perspective into its remarks.

//The Role Of the Private Sector at the NSS//


6. (C) Villalba shared with POLOFF his understanding that VP
Biden will meet with nuclear industry CEOs in a parallel
meeting outside the main NSS event and that the VP will then
deliver to the NSS participants the conclusions of those
talks on the private sector's vision of nuclear security.
Villalba suggested it might not unreasonable to think that
the CEOs may want to be in attendance while the VP delivers
the conclusions and appear in a photo opp with the heads of
government/state.
SOLOMONT