CWC: WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 19, 2010

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TAGS: PARM PREL AORC OPCW CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 19, 2010

REF: THE HAGUE 89

This is CWC-13-10

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) As preparations advanced for the Executive
Council meeting (EC-59) February 22-26 (reftel),
facilitators held informal consultations on Article
XI and the Report on the Status of Implementation of
the External Auditor's Recommendations. The Western
European and Others Group (WEOG) held its weekly
meeting February 16 to discuss the EC-59 issues.
WEOG agreed to the nomination of the French
Ambassador as the next EC Chairman, and also agreed
that its first meeting during EC-59 should be
expanded to include the like-minded states known as
WEOG-Plus.

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WEOG
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2. (SBU) At its regular Tuesday meeting February 16,
the Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
officially agreed to the nomination of French
Ambassador Jean-Francois Blarel as WEOG's choice to
chair the Executive Council (EC) beginning in May

2010. French Delegate Raja Rabia was also approved
as WEOG's nominee to facilitate discussions on
Universality, pending agreement from the other
regional groups. After acclamation by applause,
Blarel said that he would work for a good transition
at the helm of the Organization and to address
sensitive issues, including continuing the
consultations on the final destruction deadlines
begun by current EC Chairman Lomonaco (Mexico).


3. (SBU) WEOG Coordinator Ruth Surkau (Germany) then
asked for views on expanding the WEOG meeting during
the EC to include non-WEOG European Union members,
Japan and South Korea. The group approved an
expanded WEOG-Plus meeting at the beginning of EC-59
(February 23),with the Australian delegate
proposing more regular meetings as WEOG-Plus as
often as every fortnight. The Swiss delegate said
the expanded group was useful but that WEOG should
not institutionalize it; the Dutch Ambassador agreed
with that view.


4. (SBU) Turning to the EC-59 agenda, the group
discussed the controversy over the Director-
General's proposed agenda item on the composition of
the Technical Secretariat (TS) staff and South
Africa's strong opposition (reftel). Several
delegations (UK, U.S., Germany, Italy, Netherlands)
spoke in favor of having the Council decide what
should be published in a report on TS staffing,
rather than one delegation (South Africa) obtaining
information privately from the TS and then issuing a
national paper, as happened in October. Surkau also
pointed to another new document on Key Terms that
may arouse heated debate, particularly on the part
of Iran.


5. (SBU) There was little discussion on the Article
XI consultation scheduled for February 26 (see
below),or the status of the external auditor's
recommendations (also below). There was more
interest when the Dutch Ambassador asked if anyone
else had been invited to the South African lunch at
the beginning of the EC week. The U.S., UK, German
and Spanish delegations acknowledged invitations but
no one had heard what the agenda might be.


6. (SBU) The Australian delegate announced for
facilitator Mike Byers, who was not present, that he
planned to defer consideration of the TS Note on the
OPCW's counter-terrorism efforts until he could
hold a discussion (likely in March). Surkau
announced the two open meetings on industry issues,
on sampling and analysis and site selection for
Other Chemical Production Facilities (OCPFs),now
scheduled for February 25.

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ARTICLE XI
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7. (U) Facilitator Chen Kai (China) convened a
meeting on February 19 to kick off discussions on
the Article XI workshop agreed during the Conference
of the States Parties (CSP-14) in December. The
Cuban Ambassador briefly introduced a non-paper
prepared by his delegation with "terms of reference"
and a draft schedule for the workshop. He said that
the Cuban non-paper was just one input in shaping
the workshop and also noted that he expects
substantive discussion on the topic at EC-59.
Kumaresh Misra (Head, International Cooperation
Branch) then presented a TS draft concept paper,
which he described as having many similarities to
the Cuban non-paper. (Del Note: Both the TS and
Cuban non-papers will be sent by e-mail to ISN/CB.
End Note.)


8. (U) Turning to the timing of the workshop, Chen
said that October (as proposed by Cuba) or later
would be realistic; he later stated that the
workshop's conclusions would need to be considered
by the EC and then the CSP, so it would need to be
held before the October EC. The Australian
delegate, noting that funding would be an important
factor, suggested scheduling the workshop close to
another meeting in The Hague (e.g., the annual
meeting for National Authorities in late November)
to reduce travel expenses. Misra noted that the
audience might be different to that attending the
National Authorities meeting, so there might not be
significant savings. The Tunisian Ambassador
reminded delegations that Tunisia will be hosting
ASSISTEX-3 in mid-October. The South African
delegate suggested holding the workshop in late
September.


9. (U) Responding to a request for more detail on
the TS projected budget for the workshop, Misra
stated that it is a very rough estimate and will
depend on how many participants would be funded,
costs for facilitators and other meeting expenses.
The Iranian delegate then raised a number of
concerns with both the Cuban and TS draft papers.
He said that it would be difficult to limit
participation to only 80 and that 2-2.5 days would
not be enough time to discuss the "very important"
issues related to "all aspects" for the "full
implementation" of Article XI. The UK delegate
noted that there have been previous non-papers with
ideas for the workshop, including one circulated by
the UK in July 2008. The Dutch Ambassador,
referring to the CSP-14 decision authorizing the
workshop (C-14/DEC.11),stressed the need to remain
within the mandate given by the decision. Turning
to the Cuban non-paper, he noted that one subset of
its proposed agenda appears to be technical while
the other subset is clearly political.


10. (SBU) There was almost no mention of the TS
annual report on Article XI implementation, up for
Qannual report on Article XI implementation, up for
consideration at EC-59. Chen seems to be focused
entirely on the workshop and announced plans to hold
a follow-on consultation between EC-59 and EC-60
with a view to finalizing details in for approval at
EC-61 in June.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF EXTERNAL AUDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS
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11. (U) On February 17, Facilitator Nik Granger
(U.S.) chaired a meeting on the semi-annual report
on TS implementation of outstanding recommendations
by the External Auditor. Members of the TS gave
oral updates on five sets of recommendations dating
from between 2005 and 2008:
- unliquidated obligations
- recruitment contract to Creative Marketing
Services
- non-expendable property
- procurement
- reduction in receivables due related to the U.S.-
OPCW tax reimbursement agreement.


12. (U) Based on the TS updates, delegations agreed
to close consideration of the relevant
recommendations as they either have been fully
implemented or are no longer valid. There was some
discussion about the changes to the Financial Rules
and Regulations necessitated by the introduction of
IPSAS (the International Public Sector Accounting
Standards),and the German delegate requested that
the amendments be circulated as soon as possible to
give sufficient time for review even though they
will be taken up by the Advisory Body on
Administrative and Financial Matters (ABAF) before
coming before the EC for consideration in June. The
facilitator also asked delegations to consider
whether the current semi-annual reporting by the TS
-- introduced in 2001 -- still is necessary and
proposed discussing the matter after the release of
the External Auditor's Report for 2009, due in May.


13. (U) BEIK SENDS.

LEVIN