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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USOSCE 000041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OSCE PGOV PREL MARR KV KZ AF
SUBJECT: OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: FEBRUARY 8 - 12, 2010 
 
Chairmanship Requests Information on Review Conference, 
Afghanistan 
 
¶1. (SBU) In our February 9 meeting with the Chairmanship, 
Kazakhstani PermRep Abdrakhmanov requested additional 
information on U.S. expectations for the review conference 
the Chairmanship has been encouraged to hold in the run-up to 
a summit.  Abdrakhmanov said the subject had come up in 
Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Saudabayev's meetings in 
Washington and asked for our thoughts on the review 
conference's length and substance, specifically asking if it 
should focus on all three dimensions (or exclusively on the 
human dimension) and if the annual Human Dimension 
Implementation Meeting still should be held.  Abdrakhmanov 
further asked "what the United States expected" on 
Afghanistan and said the Chairmanship was trying to figure 
out how to achieve results.  CDA Fuller promised to provide 
additional information but encouraged the Chairmanship to 
focus on the Corfu Process and the June interim report, 
noting both would help determine whether there was sufficient 
substance for a summit. 
 
Chairmanship Plans to Invite High-Level Officials to the PC 
 
¶2. (SBU) In the same meeting, Abdrakhmanov said the 
Chairmanship had invited several high-level officials to 
address the Permanent Council (PC) this year, in some cases 
charting new territory.  Abdrakhmanov said the UN secretary 
general had agreed "in principle" to address the PC, perhaps 
April 9, and noted that the NATO, CSTO, and SCO secretaries 
general also had agreed in principle.  In addition, 
Abdrakhmanov said the Chairmanship had invited Lady Ashton 
and the heads of the Council of Europe, ASEAN, the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Alliance for 
Civilizations, and the Conference on Interaction and 
Confidence Building Measures in Central Asia (CICA). 
Kazakhstan likely is hoping to use these high-level visits to 
raise the OSCE's profile and boost its own prestige. 
 
Possible OSCE Endorsement of Afghanistan Conference 
Conclusions 
 
¶3. (SBU) UK PermRep Ian Cliff told the Quad ambassadors and 
CDA Fuller February 9 that his government would like to 
obtain an OSCE endorsement of the outcomes of the January 28 
London conference on Afghanistan.  He plans to make a 
straightforward statement about the conclusions at the 
February 25 Permanent Council meeting and is asking the EU, 
the United States, Russia, and like-minded countries to make 
positive statements.  This would then enable OSCE 
Chairman-in-Office and Kazakhstani FM Saudabayev to issue a 
public statement saying he had addressed the conference and 
that the OSCE Permanent Council had discussed its conclusions 
and fully supported them. 
 
Ambassador Dell, SCE Director Hyland Meet Key OSCE Players 
 
¶4. (SBU) On February 8 and 9 Ambassador Chris Dell and SCE 
Director Jason Hyland met a number of key OSCE interlocutors 
in Vienna to discuss and give U.S. perspectives on Kosovo and 
OMIK.  At a dinner hosted by CDA Fuller February 8, 
Ambassador Dell noted the many positive developments in 
Kosovo and urged the OSCE to focus on practical 
capacity-building activities there, including potentially 
with new Serb municipalities.  The following day, Ambassador 
 
USOSCE 00000041  002 OF 002 
 
 
Dell, Hyland, and CDA Fuller met senior members of the OSCE 
Secretariat to discuss OSCE activities in Kosovo.  Later, 
Hyland, Pfeuffer, and USDEL met with the Kazakhstani deputy 
PermRep responsible for Balkans issues (who professed little 
direct knowledge of the region) to emphasize the importance 
of taking a balanced approach to Kosovo. 
 
Pushing Term Limits to the Fore 
 
¶5. (SBU) On the margins of the February 10 PC meeting, the 
U.S. and UK Advisory Committee on Management and Finance 
(ACMF) representatives cornered the Kazakhstani ACMF chair in 
separate encounters and pushed for further action on the 
Secretary General's proposals to harmonize term limitations 
for OSCE staff and secondees.  Our message was simple: 
interested delegations had rejected the SG's first proposal, 
so a revised version, either from the SG or the ACMF chair, 
was needed.  The ACMF chair said he understood that the 
Secretariat had drafted a response and would offer it 
"shortly."  Key areas of disagreement remain terms for heads 
and deputy heads of mission, grandfathering existing staff, 
and whether staff who leave the organization can reset their 
clocks and return for another 10-year term.  We understand 
Albanian Head of Mission (HOM) Bosch is circulating a paper 
among other HOM's as a combined position statement on 
personnel issues that includes an effort to reconcile 
contract and seconded employees at lower levels to a 10-year 
time-in-position limitation. 
 
Scales of Contribution: Opening Old Wounds 
 
¶6. (U) Interested ACMF members attended an informal working 
group meeting February 10 to discuss the scales of 
contribution review called for in PC/DEC/924.  In the 
decision, the PC agreed to roll over existing scales for 
calendar year 2010 and tasked the ACMF chair to initiate 
discussions and report to the PC by the end of June 2010.  No 
participating State chose to take on the 14 percent ceiling 
for field missions, although some grumbled that this did not 
follow the principle of capacity to pay.  Others, including 
the United States, reaffirmed the idea that the OSCE should 
not become dependent on any one country or group of countries 
and noted that capacity to pay was balanced by political will 
to contribute, especially given the organization's 
consensus-based decision making process.  A discarded idea 
from previous years, that of a unified scale that would be 
the same for both the headquarters/institutions and the field 
operations, was revived.  In the past, Russia and other 
States opposed a unified scale, as it would raise their 
contribution levels.  The EU asked that charts be issued 
showing the EU contribution as a whole and broken out by 
Members.  The EU contributes about 70 percent of the OSCE's 
overall budget, so the request for group numbers is something 
to watch.  Many delegations seemed encouraged that progress 
-- perhaps even a new scale or scales -- could be attained 
this year.  The UK plans to hold bi-weekly meetings of the 
informal working group. 
FULLER