LITHUANIA'S 2011 OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000078 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2020 TAGS: OSCE MOPS PREL AF LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIA'S 2011 OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP Classified By: CDA Damian R. Leader for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) ACTION REQUEST. See paragraph 9. ¶2. (C) Ambassador met with MFA Ambassador-at-Large Rytis Paulauskas on January 20 to discuss the GOL's plans for its OSCE chairmanship in 2011. Paulauskas said the GOL will focus on human dimension issues of media freedom and election observations. He shared the GOL's plan to reinvigorate sub-regional cooperation in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. He said that the topic of energy security is political and noted that the OSCE is undergoing a review of its role in energy security. The GOL is engaging the Kazakhs through the Troika and bilaterally to collaborate on OSCE priorities during the Kazakh Chairmanship. The GOL will meet with the Kazakhs to suggest a joint FM visit to Moldova and encourage them to focus on human rights and to conduct their Chairmanship with transparency and follow-through. -------------- GOL's Chairmanship Priorities -------------- ¶3. (C) Paulauskas said that he wanted to meet with us to share the GOL's food-for-thought paper "Revitalizing the OSCE Role as a Forum for Sub-regional Cooperation" (non-paper emailed on February 2 to EUR/NB). He said that the GOL wants to strengthen sub-regional cooperation in the South Caucasus and in Central Asia, and expand on Russia's idea to have meetings with OSCE, EU, NATO, CSTO and CIS by also including the Council of Baltic Sea States and others. He offered that the GOL is open to suggestions on ways to reinvigorate sub-regional cooperation and added that this topic will become part of the Corfu process. ¶4. (C) Paulauskas provided an overview of the current GOL thinking on Chairmanship priorities. He said that human dimension topics will include media freedom and election observations. Ambassador Derse emphasized that the U.S. wants to see the OSCE maintain its important role in election observations. She also suggested that women's empowerment, which is a cross-cutting issue in OSCE, Community of Democracies and other forums, be added to the GOL's agenda and advocated for strong bilateral partnership in this area. Paulauskas agreed that women's empowerment would be an excellent theme for the human dimension. He said that the GOL will try to create a consultative group of international NGOs to advise on Chairmanship priorities and will take advantage of the upcoming Third Regional Meeting of Council of Europe NGOs in April to advance this agenda. Paulauskas said the GOL wants to hold a Chairmanship event in 2011 on media freedom and invite international NGOs. He asked for USG support on this initiative because he anticipates the GOL will run into some opposition. Paulauskas noted that the Finns did something similar. ¶5. (C) Ambassador Derse asked Paulauskas if energy security would be a priority during the GOL's Chairmanship. Paulauskas explained that a decision already had been taken in Athens to hold an experts meeting to discuss the value that OSCE can add to the issue of energy security. After the experts meeting, the Secretary General will prepare a report that will inform a Ministerial-level decision on whether or not the OSCE should play a continued role in energy security. This decision will in turn determine what the GOL can accomplish in this area. Paulauskas said that the GOL is not adverse to drawing attention to energy security but noted that it is a political topic. He said that Russia is amenable to technical discussions on protecting critical energy infrastructure but it does not want to address the political aspects of the issue. He added that focus on renewable energy is less likely to be controversial. -------------- Troika Talks and the Kazakh Chairmanship -------------- ¶6. (C) Ambassador Derse asked Paulauskas about the progress of Troika talks and urged the GOL to work with the GOK to make its Chairmanship as productive as possible. He responded that the GOL will use every opportunity to meet with the Troika members and to hold discussions at the Foreign Minister (FM) level. Paulauskas said that the FM troika will hold a meeting in Brussels on January 26 together VILNIUS 00000078 002 OF 002 with a representative from the EU Presidency. He elaborated that the GOL would hold a bilateral meeting with the Khazaks before the Troika meeting to raise the following: -- Caucasus. The GOL will try to provide some guidance to the Khazaks prior to their travel through the Caucasus in the first half of February. -- Moldova. The GOL is suggesting a joint FM visit to Moldova. The Kazakhs have noted that this is not a conventional approach but (so far) the GOK has not said no. -- Human rights. Paulauskas noted that Chairman Saudabayev recently made a speech about the importance of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). -- Transparency. The OSCE Chair must be transparent and committed to follow through on promises. -- Corfu Process. Ask what the FM sees as priorities for the Corfu process. -- Plans for a high-level meeting on Afghanistan. (Ambassador Derse noted that the U.S. is not in favor of a summit at this time.) -------------- GOL Plans for Chairmanship Resources -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Ambassador Paulauskas provided an update on the GOL's OSCE staffing plans leading up to its Chairmanship. He said that four diplomats will go to Vienna to staff the GOL's new OSCE office. In Vilnius the OSCE team has five staff members at present but Paulauskas wants twelve to fourteen by summer 2010. He asked if it would be possible to have a USG official on the team who could help the GOL with drafting. We told him that we would explore this idea with Washington. Regarding financial resources, Paulauskas said that he has 1M litai (USD 420k) to spend on preparations this year. He lamented that the GOL can't match Kazakhstan's investment in its OSCE Chairmanship and estimated that the GOL will need a minimum of 7M euros to fund its Chairmanship (USD 9.7M). He said that OSCE priorities will be decided by MFA, the Interior Ministry, the President and the Parliament. Paulauskas added that a decision on political priorities will help to align budget priorities. ¶8. (SBU) Paulauskas' team organized a meeting on January 28 with law enforcement officials to discuss anti-trafficking, border management, counter terrorism and other issues which will help to inform the GOL's OSCE agenda. He said that the GOL will organize a second round table meeting on July 1-2 as a follow up to its kick off round table meeting that took place last October 22-23 in Vilnius. The Foreign Minister will chair the meeting and the OSCE's Secretary General is also invited. -------------- Action Request -------------- ¶9. (C) We have a continuing opportunity to advance our priorities during the Lithuanian chairmanship in 2011 and while it holds membership in the Troika in 2010 and 2012, and will work closely with the GOL to ensure that it is informed on USG views. Having a USG official join the GOL's OSCE team also would be an excellent opportunity to share USG thinking directly with the OSCE Chairmanship team and to track the latest OSCE developments. We would appreciate guidance on how to proceed with this request. LEADER