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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIT #1910/01 2910608
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180608Z OCT 06
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6159
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5706
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS PRIORITY 0733
RUEHKB/AMEMBASSY BAKU PRIORITY 0003
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0037
RUEHBM/AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST PRIORITY 0139
RUEHCH/AMEMBASSY CHISINAU PRIORITY 0046
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV PRIORITY 0001
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 0317
RUeHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA PRIORITY 0216
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI PRIORITY 0115
RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA PRIORITY 0063
RUEHYE/AMEMBASSY YEREVAN PRIORITY 0075
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 001910 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SENV KCRM TU RS SR
SUBJECT: BSEC MINISTERIAL: VIEW FROM ISTANBUL 
 
REF: STATE 162288 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified, Please Protect Accordingly 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  BSEC Secretariat officials and members of 
key delegations recommend that the USG discuss reftel project 
on environmental enforcement for economic development in 
general terms at the November 1 Council of Ministers meeting. 
 Seeking to place discussion of reftel project on the agenda 
runs the risk of getting bogged down in political squabbles 
unrelated to the merits of the proposal.  Project details 
including content, venue and financing should be agreed by 
the Environmental Working Group prior to presentation to the 
Ministers.  Turkey, who chairs the Environmental Working 
Group and will be taking up the BSEC Chairmanship in May, is 
interested in working with the USG on environmental 
protection issues.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) We discussed reftel talking points with BSEC First 
Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Murat Sungar who was 
receptive to the idea of an environmental protection-focused 
U.S. project.  We also raised the idea informally with 
members of the Greek, Turkish and Ukrainian delegations as 
well as with Russian chairman-in-office Sergey Goncharenko 
during the course of the October 5-6 BSEC Senior Officials 
meeting.  During a subsequent visit to Istanbul, 
Budapest-based EST Hub officer reviewed reftel points with 
Stefana Greavu, the BSEC secretariat staffer with 
responsibility for BSEC's Environmental Working Group. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Asim Arar, Turkish MFA Deputy Director General for 
Multilateral Economic Affairs, advised us that the GOT would 
likely be very interested in working on environmental 
protection issues with the United States during Turkey's May 
- November 2007 chairmanship.  Turkey would like to work 
seriously on environmental issues within BSEC and chairs 
BSEC's Environmental Working Group so is well-placed to move 
forward on this type of project, he noted.  Based on previous 
BSEC experience Arar predicted that it would be difficult to 
add a 'conceptual' U.S. proposal to the agenda for the Moscow 
Ministerial.  He noted however, that most delegations would 
likely be receptive to the idea as described reftel and that 
it would be useful for the U.S. delegation to elaborate on 
the concept given reftel during the Ministerial meeting in 
Moscow.   In a separate discussion Goncharenko, who chaired 
the senior officials meeting, noted that it would be 
virtually impossible for any proposal (whether from an 
observer or member state) to be added to the Ministerial 
agenda without prior discussion in a working group. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Visiting EST Hub officer met with Stefana Greavu the 
BSEC staffer who works with the environmental working group. 
Although interested in the concept, she recommended that the 
USG develop a more detailed proposal (including financing) 
prior to presentation to BSEC.  She questioned whether it was 
necessary to add discussion of a U.S. proposal to the agenda, 
noting that in the past events have been organized under the 
auspices of the BSEC chair without a resolution or 
intergovernmental decision.  She noted that one of the 
advantages to seeking to organize a Chair's initiative rather 
than an intergovernmental decision was that a decision (or 
resolution) ran the risk of getting bogged down in political 
squabbles. 
 
¶5. (SBU) When queried directly concerning the modalities of 
adding reftel U.S. proposal to the agenda for the November 1 
Ministerial meeting, Sungar explained that the agenda was 
largely prepared by the working groups, approved by the 
senior officials and then endorsed by the Ministers.  He 
recommended that rather than seeking to add discussion of a 
U.S. environmental proposal to the agenda, the US delegation 
come to Moscow prepared to give broad outlines of the 
proposal as part of our opening statement.  The USG could 
then work directly with the environment working group to 
discuss details such as content, venue and financing that 
would not normally be handled by the Ministers. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:   The adoption of the agenda at BSEC 
meetings tends to be an unusually difficult and lengthy 
process.  We recommend that the U.S. delegation to the Moscow 
Ministerial be prepared to review the concepts discussed 
reftel during opening/closing statements rather than seeking 
to have the U.S. project added to the agenda.   The program 
can then be discussed in detail at the working group level 
with the aim of having it presented as a Chair's initiative 
when the GOT takes the Chair in May 2007.  Serbia will hold 
the chairmanship from November 2006 through April 2007; 
however, Serbia is an unlikely partner for this initiative as 
it is focused on law enforcement cooperation, particularly 
trafficking in persons, as a theme for its term in office. 
End Comment. 
JONES