VZCZCXYZ0014
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #0448/01 0731109
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 141109Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8469
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000448 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S 
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP 
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC 
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN) 
NSC FOR LEDDY 
WINPAC FOR WALTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP-UP FOR THE 
WEEK ENDING MARCH 9 
 
This is CWC-23-07. 
 
----------- 
ARTICLE VII 
----------- 
 
¶1. (U) Facilitator Maarten Lak (Netherlands) presided over 
his final Article VII consultations.  Delegations 
congratulated him for his work over the past year.  Amb. 
Onate (Legal Adviser) then gave a brief summary of the 
Progress Report (EC-48/DG.10 27 Feb. 2007) noting that the 
cut-off for new information had been 16 Feb. 2007.  Portugal 
reported that it had seen progress that had not been 
included: the Council of Ministers had received legal 
opinions from all constituent agencies and is expected to 
approve the legislation by early April.  It then will be 
forwarded to Parliament with a note recommending that it act 
with urgency. 
 
¶2. (U) Magda Bauta (Chief, IPB) then made an excellent 
presentation on IPB's plan of activities for 2007 (faxed to 
ISN/CB).  At this point, the TS has received 34 (see fax) 
requests for assistance in 2007 with 15 at the stage of 
planning visit dates.  All will receive targeted assistance 
in 2007.  The branch plans a number of regional and 
sub-regional meetings as well as training courses for 
National Authorities.  Some will meet special requests (e.g., 
customs workshops), a number are targeted for 
Parliamentarians who can support implementing efforts when 
draft legislation is in Parliament. 
 
¶3.  (U) Bauta's presentation was followed by Sergey 
Kisselev's demonstration of the "Electronic Self-Learning 
Tool for NAs."  The tool is a basic application that allows 
its users to study specific topics and to test themselves 
afterwards.  It currently is available in English only, but 
versions in all official languages will be available later 
this spring. The tool also was distributed to attendees at 
the National Authority Days prior to the 11th Conference of 
States Parties.  The presentations were followed by a long, 
painful discussion with Iran questioning the TS' plans to 
train Parliamentarians on the CWC and its requirements. 
 
¶4. (U) Outreach and Assistance.  France noted that Paris had 
just completed the latest running of its basic course for 
National Authority members, and Australia/Japan gave a brief 
summary of the results of the industry outreach session just 
concluded in Jakarta.  Australia announced that on 2 March 
its National Authority sent a team to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 
to train its National Authority on preparations to host 
inspections.  This probably will be followed up with a 
session for Malaysian experts in Canberra.  Australia also 
noted that it might be able to provide implementation 
assistance to Cambodia, the Republic of the Philippines, and 
Vietnam. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
ARTICLE VII OUTREACH - THE PADILLA INITIATIVE 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Based on discussions from the March 6 WEOG meeting, 
discussions with Amb. Lak and Amb. Onate, the March 8 Article 
VII meeting, and recent TS reporting, the following new 
information on outreach efforts to the States Parties of most 
concern under the Padilla initiative is available: 
 
-- As a follow-up to France's mention of its plans to 
demarche certain States Parties regarding Article VII, Amb. 
Lak encouraged other delegations to do the same. 
 
-- Japan renewed its interest in working with the Philippines 
toward an industry outreach seminar in Manila this year. 
 
-- Based on the success of their joint efforts with Japan in 
Jakarta, Australia is also pursuing participation in the 
Manila seminar.  Once Japan and Australia have talked through 
more details, they will let the Del know if there is anything 
particular that they see as needed from the U.S. in support 
of this seminar. 
 
 
-- The TS appears to have conducted technical assistance 
visits (TAV) in Azerbaijan and Ecuador in the first quarter 
of this year.  The Del will determine if other SPs were 
involved that can provide appropriate follow-up.  (Note: 
Germany had expressed early interest in Ecuador and may have 
been involved in the TAV.) 
 
-- The TS has TAVs planned for 2007 in: Georgia, Indonesia, 
Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Tajikistan, 
and the UAE.  Del will investigate the timing and details of 
these to see if any other assistance is needed. 
 
-- The TS is planning regional and sub-regional meetings in: 
Kuwait for GCC States (April/May); Chile for Latin American 
National Authorities (NA)(May); Belarus for Eastern European 
NAs (June); Qatar for Asian NAs (September); and for African 
NAs (October). 
 
-- The TS is planning specialized regional and sub-regional 
workshops in: Argentina for training Latin American and 
Caribbean national inspection escorts (April); Croatia for 
Eastern European customs officials (April); Vietnam for Asian 
customs officials (April); Mali for a legal workshop for 
central/western Africa (June); South Africa for an 
implementation workshop for senior policy makers and 
parliamentarians (July); Zambia for SADC States' customs 
officials (July); Palau for a legal workshop for the Pacific 
Island States (August); and an Article VI seminar for Asian 
SPs (September). 
 
-- There are various NA training courses going on throughout 
the year in the UK and France, as well as special ones for 
Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking SPs. 
 
-- The TS is planning parliamentarian meetings in: Sri Lanka 
for Asian SPs (June); Peru (attended by DG and Amb. Onate at 
the request of Peru), to coincide with their legislation 
going to parliament (June); and Colombia for Latin America 
and the Caribbean (July), with several parliamentary 
organizations invited. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
INDUSTRY CLUSTER - ARTICLE VI RISK AND INSPECTION FREQUENCY 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶6. (U) As a result of the protracted debate on the 2007 
program and budget, the Executive Council "decided to 
undertake discussions, under the industry cluster, in 2007, 
with the assistance of relevant experts of the Secretariat 
and States Parties, on the main issues related to the 
implementation of the verification regime established by 
Article VI of the Convention, including, inter alia, the 
frequency of inspections of the different categories of the 
facilities to be inspected as required by the Convention." 
With this in mind, Ambassador Dastis (Spain) chaired a second 
meeting on this topic on March 7.  The meeting was attended 
by the DDG. 
 
¶7. (U) In his opening remarks, the DDG mentioned that the TS 
was preparing two documents relevant to this topic: (1) a 
detailed paper on Schedule 2 plant sites; and (2) a 
development of Supporting Information Papers Nos. 6 and 7 
(developed for the fall 2006 budget consultations), which 
will include a wider framework/analysis and a legal analysis. 
 The Schedule 2 document has been given first priority by the 
DG.  Both documents are expected to be released within a 
matter of weeks, well in advance of EC-49. 
 
¶8. (U) Bill Kane (Industry Verification) briefly discussed 
the "Article VI Inspections: Select Bibliography" which the 
TS prepared and made available on March 1.  In response to a 
 
SIPDIS 
question from Italy, Kane pointed out that the only decisions 
cited are: C-I/DEC.32 and Annex, dated 16 May 1997 (Schedule 
2); C-I/DEC.33 and Annex, dated 16 May 1997 (Schedule 2); and 
EC-XVII/DEC.7, dated 1 December 1999 (Schedule 3).  He also 
pointed out that all of the documents referenced in the 
bibliography are now available on the external server. 
 
¶9. (U) Iran (along with India and Cuba) asked whether the TS 
could prepare a document that would provide some questions 
regarding the issue in order to jump start discussions.  The 
DDG clearly stated that the TS relies on SPs to frame the 
questions to be addressed by the TS.  However, he said that 
the topics raised by delegates during these meetings would be 
addressed by the TS in their upcoming documents.  Later in 
the meeting, Mexico offered to prepare a non-paper for 
consideration of other delegates and the TS, as they prepare 
their upcoming documents. 
 
¶10. (U) South Africa (along with Mexico) asked for the TS's 
current thoughts on risk assessment and how the TS sees the 
resulting allocation of inspections in the out-years.  This 
led to a discussion about the role of risk assessment as laid 
out in the CWC for Schedules 1 and 2 only.  The DDG was also 
quick to point out that their projections for inspections in 
the out-years are handled in detail as part of the 
year-to-year budget process. 
 
¶11. (U) Mexico said that, although the documents referenced 
in the bibliography are very useful, many appear to be in 
need of updating.  In particular, a comprehensive document on 
the order of EC-XXII/TS.1, dated 6 October 2000, which was 
expanded to include Schedules 1 and 3 would be helpful. 
Dastis suggested that, as many of the previous documents were 
prepared for the First RevCon, perhaps some could be updated 
in preparation for the Second RevCon. 
 
¶12. (U) Mexico also pointed to the need to make the selection 
process for Schedule 3 and OCPF random, keeping in mind the 
weighting factors mentioned in the CWC.  Mexico also pointed 
out that, in 2005, GRULAC SPs had declared 3.5 percent of 
OCPF plant sites and yet received 15 percent of the OCPF 
inspections. 
 
¶13. (U) Dastis stated his intention to report the outcome of 
these two meetings to the Colombian ambassador (vice-chair of 
the industry cluster) for his consideration in preparation 
for EC-48. 
 
¶14. (U) Javits sends. 
ARNALL