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 MADRID 00000139 002 OF 002 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