VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #1002/01 1491526
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291526Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9272
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 001002 
 
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 MAY 25 
 
This is CWC-44-07. 
 
----------- 
ARTICLE VII 
----------- 
 
¶1. (U) Facilitator Kimmo Laukenen (Finland) launched his 
facilitation with an extremely informative May 22 session, 
focusing on implementation developments since February 2007 
and upcoming Technical Secretariat outreach activities.  The 
facilitator noted that his goal would be to create a 
structure for long-standing work to ensure implementation of 
Article VII obligations and welcomed delegations ideas and 
proposals.  Laukenen will hold the next consultation prior to 
EC-49 but after the TS distributes its progress report. 
 
¶2. (U) TS Legal Advisor Santiago Onate first updated 
delegations on its efforts to support establishment of 
National Authorities.  Because Barbados just adhered to the 
Convention, the number without NAs has increased by one. 
Onate reported that on May 11, the EC Chair sent letters to 
all states that have yet to establish NAs (Cambodia, Cape 
Verde, Central African Republic, Honduras, Comoros, 
Mauritania, Montenegro, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan, and 
Barbados) and provided the texts.  Afghanistan provided in 
April 2007 contacts who will be in its new NA and requested 
training for its future personnel.  The TS is considering how 
best to provide such training. 
 
¶3. (U) Onate then moved to discuss developments in the realm 
of implementing legislation.  In alphabetical order: 
 
-- In late April, Bahrain included TS comments in its 
implementing legislation before sending it to the Council of 
Minister for review.  Afterwards the legislation will move to 
Parliament where it is anticipated that before it can be 
passed, Parliamentarians will need to be educated as to CWC 
requirements (Note: one venue might be the fall training 
scheduled for Qatar). 
-- Belgium reported that in May the federal Parliament passed 
its implementing legislation.  Now the regional Parliaments 
need to complete their independent and analogous processes. 
-- Cook Islands submitted its final draft to the TS in late 
March.  It now is incorporating TS comments prior to 
submitting the draft to Parliament in early May.  It is 
possible that Parliament could complete its process prior to 
the regional meeting in August. 
-- In February, Ecuador prepared and discussed its draft with 
the TS.  The NA was happy with the TS recommendations and 
hopes to finalize the draft in early May. 
-- Iceland reported that in March its NA changed staff 
members, delaying its work.  It anticipated that it could 
complete the process in another ten months. 
-- Head of ICA (and former Kenyan Ambassador) Mworia visited 
Nairobi in May to review and comment on Kenya's draft 
legislation.  Kenya noted that it may submit the draft to 
Parliament after the upcoming elections. 
-- Kuwait recently hosted a Technical Assistance Visit and 
reported that it hopes to finish its implementing process 
soon. 
-- Malawi reported in March that it is having big problems, 
e.g., lack of financial means, lack of capacity, its NA is 
under reorganization, and its budget was slashed.  Therefore 
it cannot commit to any dates. 
-- Montenegro reported in March that it is taking steps to 
prepare legislation.  Once its NA is established, it does not 
expect finalization of its process to take very long. 
-- Mozambique reported that its draft is advancing, and 
requested samples of legislation from Portugal, citing 
specifically sections on penal legislation.  Portugal 
provided these, and a speedy conclusion is expected. 
-- Panama in March noted the complexity of its implementation 
process due to the free zones in Colon.  The NA was 
reorganized again, and it is starting from scratch.  The NA 
is now in the Ministry of Health where no concrete progress 
is expected because of the Agency's more pressing focus on 
the country's health problems. 
-- In March, Paraguay informed Magda Bauta (IPB) that it 
needed a TAV before it could make progress. 
 
-- Portugal in March noted that it had finalized its 
legislation and sent it to parliament with a note of urgency 
(Note: it takes over the EU Presidency in July). 
-- Qatar reported that it expects Parliament to approve the 
draft in the next two months.  The legislation has sat in 
Parliament since December 2006 and suggested that a TAV for 
its Parliamentarians might advance its progress. 
-- St. Kitts and Nevis in May made its first Article VII 
submission and responded to the legal questionnaire. 
-- In March, Swaziland informed the TS that its Parliament 
decided to combine CWC implementing legislation with that of 
three other treaties.  Until this process concludes, no 
progress is anticipated.  Once it is completed, quick 
progress is possible. 
-- Tonga hosted a TAV in April, where it recommenced work 
suspended in late 2006.  Its progress has been delayed by the 
passing of the King and a turnover in its NA personnel.  It 
requested a TAV in Sep./Oct. in conjunction with the meeting 
of the Asia Pacific Security forum. 
-- Tunisia in May notified the TS that its implementing 
legislation had been adopted and the text was in the process 
of being submitted to the TS.  The TS is optimistic that all 
key areas will be covered, but is unwilling to say so 
outright until it has reviewed the approved text. 
-- Venezuela noted it received TS comments on its draft 
legislation and is about to forward the draft to its 
Parliament. 
-- Finally, Onate noted that the TS is working with Malaysia, 
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE on implementing regulations. 
 
¶4. (U) Next, Magda Bauta made a detailed presentation 
(delreps requested a copy which will be forwarded to ISN/CB 
once received) on Implementation Support Branch Activities 
which will include TAVs, regional and sub-regional meetings 
for National Authorities, courses for NA personnel and 
Parliamentarians, and exchanges with UNEP and the World 
Customs Organization, for a total of 48 events in 2007.  If 
additional requests come in, more events can be accommodated 
as well. 
 
------------------------------------- 
OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP ON TERRORISM 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) On May 24, the facilitator for the Open-Ended Working 
Group on Terrorism (Annie-Claire Mari, France) held the first 
consultation under her leadership, the first such 
consultation in a year.  Mari's opening remarks focused on 
the history of the Working Group, relevant Executive Council 
decisions, input and presentations from outside experts, and 
work with regional, subregional, and other international 
organizations.  She referenced UNGA Resolution A/RES/60/288 
(Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy) that encourages the IAEA 
and the OPCW to continue within their mandates to help States 
build capacity to prevent terrorist access to materials and 
facilities of concern.  She referenced UNSCR 1540 in a 
similar light and pointed to recent workshops that have been 
held toward this end. 
 
¶6.  (U) The Deputy Director General made a very brief 
intervention in support of continuing work in cooperation 
with the UN 1540 Committee. 
 
¶7.  (U) The main topic on the agenda was a presentation by 
Ambassador Peter Burian (Slovakia), Chairman of the UN 1540 
Committee.  Burian, while acknowledging that the OPCW is not 
an anti-terrorism organization, pointed to the work of the 
OPCW as vital in reducing the ability of terrorists to obtain 
access to weapons of mass destruction.  He laid out the 
history of UNSCR 1540 and its objectives and obligations.  He 
emphasized that the main objective is to allow member states 
to put in place appropriate measures (e.g., import/export 
controls, transshipment and trafficking measures, etc.) to 
react to emerging threats.  Workshops and other work to date 
has pointed to the need for assistance to many member states, 
and the 1540 Committee sees its role as a clearinghouse for 
such need requests and offers of assistance.  The OPCW has 
participated in many of the Committee's outreach efforts to 
date.  The Committee's current outreach efforts will focus on 
E 
 
the Pacific, the Caribbean, and Africa. 
 
¶8.  (U) In response to questions from Algeria, the 
Netherlands, and Sweden, Burian said that he saw the biggest 
role for the OPCW as assistance to States Parties.  The 
Committee desires to use existing programs within the OPCW, 
IAEA, and WCO to move its work forward.  He sees a need to 
better advertise the Committee's activities.  He acknowledged 
that many states activities probably meet the requirements of 
1540, but they do not know it.  Using open source 
information, the Committee hopes to reach out to those in 
this situation to move their efforts forward.  He clearly 
sees the need to help states understand that 1540 is to their 
benefit and security.  He acknowledged that little reporting 
progress has been made since their 2006 report, with 56 
reports still outstanding from the Pacific, the Caribbean, 
and Africa. 
 
¶9.  (U) In response to an inquiry from Turkey, Burian 
acknowledged that reporting is only the first step and that 
full implementation of 1540 (and the follow-up 1673) is 
long-term.  The Committee's mandate will need to be extended 
next year in order to do that.  They have learned that 
sub-regional efforts can be particularly helpful where 
individual states find it difficult to put these measures in 
place on their own. 
 
¶10.  (U) Iran made a general statement about the delicacy of 
this matter.  They referenced operative paragraph 5 of the 
decision and that the provisions of this resolution do not 
relieve states' obligations in other areas.  They pointed to 
what they felt were two assumptions that need to be kept in 
mind: (1) the independent and autonomous nature of the OPCW 
and (2) the fact that the OPCW is not an anti-terrorism 
organization.  They also reminded delegations that new 
proposals should come through the Working Group but 
eventually need the approval of the Executive Council. 
 
¶11.  (U) In response to a question from the UK, Burian 
addressed export controls and the impact of the Committee's 
work in their establishment.  He referenced the Committee's 
participation in a recent workshop in Bucharest that dealt 
with these matters.  He cautioned that the implementation of 
1540 is a national responsibility and that the Committee 
cannot dictate methods for doing so.  However, he sees the 
Committee's role as making states aware of the best practices 
in use so they can use that information when putting their 
export control measures in place. 
 
¶12.  (U) Pakistan made a statement that pointed to the CWC 
experience as an example of the time and effort required in 
the implementation of "onerous" requirements like these. 
They pointed out that Pakistan has already made two reports 
to the Committee but that other states need more time and 
assistance to do so.  While acknowledging the independence 
and autonomy of the OPCW, they stated that they felt that the 
OPCW could still serve as an effective vehicle to providing 
assistance. 
 
-------------------------------- 
GENEVA GROUP - DRAFT 2008 BUDGET 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) The Geneva Group met on May 25 to get an initial 
briefing on the proposed 2008 budget, which will be submitted 
to the Director General for his consideration.  Director of 
Administration Ron Nelson and acting Head of Budget Labib 
Sahab provided the briefing.  The key points: 
 
-- Zero growth budget. 
-- The DG will present it to delegations on June 22. 
-- There will be a two per cent increase for staff costs. 
-- The exchange rate used for the budget will be .732 Euro 
for one USD, as this was the rate for most of May. 
-- A two per cent inflation factor was utilized. 
-- There will be a 3.6% increase for ICA, although Nelson 
emphasized that the inflation rate used for LDCs (and 
therefore relevant for any TS activities there) is 4.75%. 
-- The distribution will be about 50.2% for Chapter 1 and 
 
49.8% for Chapter 2. 
-- Three temporary positions in ISB, PSB and ICA will be 
reprogrammed to permanent positions, so the total number of 
TS staff will go from 521 to 524. 
 
SIPDIS 
-- There will be an increase of 100,000 Euros to cover higher 
than expected departures of P-staff.  The usual number of 
P-staff departures is 15 per year.  There are 17 so far in 
2007 and two more will definitely depart.  The estimate is 
that 5-6 more P-staff will leave by the end of the year. 
-- There will be no/no increase in Human Resources personnel 
to handle higher turnover. 
-- With regard to requests from some delegations about 
showing voluntary contributions, the draft budget will 
not/not show voluntary contributions.  Those will continue to 
be shown in quarterly financial statements. 
-- Nelson referred to the Annual Performance Report linked to 
Results Based Budgeting and said the TS would be working to 
maximize the utility of the report. 
 
¶14. (U) On the number of OCPF inspections, which had been the 
key point of contention in last year's budget negotiations, 
the budget was prepared with a total of 200 industry 
inspections.  The option had been put to the DG to consider 
an increase that number to 220, 230 or 250.  If the DG elects 
to have 220 inspections, an additional 150,000 Euros would 
need to be re-allocated to cover the additional inspections. 
After Nelson and Sahab departed, there was a discussion in 
the Group on whether the TS could handle more than 200 
inspections a year.  Diana Gosens (Netherlands) said that 
there had been discussion of improved procedures that would 
allow the same number of inspectors to handle more 
inspections (more sequential inspections, less preparatory 
work, due to greater experience, etc.)  However, there was no 
consensus on whether more than 200 inspections could be 
handled by the current number of inspectors. 
 
¶15. (U) The U.S. and UK made a strong pitch for a continued 
increase (no specific number) in OCPF inspections, and there 
was general agreement in the Group and no delegate expressed 
disagreement.  The key is to learn if the DG plans to hold to 
200 inspections and reallocate the number for Schedule 1, 2 3 
and OCPF, or move up to 220 with a substantial part of the 
extra 20 going to OCPFs. 
 
¶16. (U) Finally, Sahab said that the 2005 surplus, currently 
estimated to be 8.8 million Euros, would be credited and 
distributed back to States Parties at the start of 2008, once 
it had been certified.  There was a general discussion of the 
status of Article IV/V invoices, with Nelson stating that the 
U.S. had recently made a payment which had covered 
outstanding 2006 and 2007 invoices.  There was also a 
discussion of the state of payment of assessed contributions. 
 Nelson noted that the payment rate was very slow this year. 
Del rep asked if there had been any TS cancellation of 
projects or a negative impact on operations so far.  Nelson 
flatly told the Group there had been no slowdown or cut-back 
in operations. 
 
¶17. (U) Budget co-facilitators Gosens and Donggy Lee (South 
Korea) said they would hold a facilitation the week of July 
¶3.  The expectation is that this would be an opportunity for 
delegations to present questions on the budget to the TS. 
The facilitators would then hold the usual item-by-item 
consultations beginning in early September.  With an EC set 
for September 25, the facilitators candidly stated they are 
expecting to have to complete the budget on the margins of 
the November Conference of States Parties. 
 
¶18.  (U) Ito sends. 
ARNALL