VZCZCXYZ0008
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #1684/01 2561213
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 131213Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0254
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 001684 
 
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 SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 
 
 
 This is CWC--75-07. 
 
--------------------------- 
PLANNING FOR AMMAN WORKSHOP 
--------------------------- 
 
1.(U) Del rep met with UK and Japanese representatives to 
discuss and clarify points on TS efforts to plan a follow up 
to the December 2006 Amman workshop to finalize the Iraqi 
initial declaration.  Del rep offered Washington,s proposals 
of the weeks of 28 October or 11 November to the UK and 
Japanese delegations and will provide any response to 
Washington.  Del has also shared email confirmation of the 
Iraqi Parliament,s third reading of the CWC with the UK 
delegation.  Del will follow up with the TS to find out 
whether TS officials would also be able to support one or 
both of the weeks in question. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
2008 BUDGET CONSULTATIONS ) INSPECTORATE 
---------------------------------------- 
 
2.(U) On September 5, Donggy Lee (Korea) chaired the second 
consultation on the DG,s Draft Program and Budget for 2008. 
The topic for the discussion was Programme 2 (Inspections). 
Ichiro Akiyama (Director, Inspectorate) gave a brief summary 
of this Programme, noting the small 2.2 percent increase in 
this budget area and highlighting efficiencies that have been 
strengthened (e.g., sequential inspections, use of SSA 
contracts for additional inspectors, reduction in team sizes). 
 
3.(U) Russia pointed out that, even though overall 
destruction activities in their country have increased, the 
increase was less than the TS assumed in the budget proposal 
(i.e., two new destruction facilities, rather than three). 
This spurred lengthy discussion about &decreases8  in 
destruction activities in Russia and the U.S. and the 
ramifications for possible increases in other types of 
inspections (i.e., Article VI) and activities in other budget 
areas.  The TS committed to evaluate how the changes in 
planning for Russian and U.S. destruction activities would 
reduce the overall &ceiling8 on inspector days and total 
income and how this might affect other verification 
activities. 
 
4.(U) Many delegations spoke in support of the zero nominal 
growth (ZNG) submission from the DG.  However, several 
delegations were disappointed that there was no further 
increase in Article VI inspections, particularly OCPFs (e.g., 
Austria, France, Canada, Belgium, UK, U.S., and Switzerland). 
 Canada was particularly strong in stating that to stop the 
year-to-year increase in inspections sends the wrong signal 
and, although the &hierarchy of risk8 is important, it is 
adequately reflected in the DG,s proposal, a point that 
Switzerland picked up on by stating the expected time between 
inspections for the categories of sites (2.5 years for 
Schedule 1, 3.8 years for Schedule 2, 14.8 years for Schedule 
3, and 41.9 years for OCPFs).  Many delegations also spoke of 
the importance of inspector training, as well as the 
long-term solution for inspector staffing (i.e., SSAs v. 
increased hiring). 
 
5.(U) Japan asked about the budget for Schedule 2 inspections 
with sampling and analysis (S&A), particularly how many such 
inspections had been conducted to date, how many were left, 
and how that affects 2008 plans.  Bill Kane (Head, IVB) said 
that the TS had conducted eight such inspections to date (two 
in 2006 and six so far in 2007), that they plan three more 
(total of nine) for 2007, and that they plan two more in 
2008, for a grand total of thirteen.  He pointed out that the 
DG, based on progress to date, has asked the staff to plan 
for 8 to 10 such inspections per year after the 18-month 
trial period is completed early in 2008. 
 
6.(U) South Africa, along with China, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, 
Mexico, and India challenged the assumption that increased 
numbers of OCPF inspections results in added confidence and 
proposed a discussion on the fundamental principles and goals 
of OCPF inspections.  Iran made vague arguments about the 
 
caveat placed on the 2007 budget agreement (i.e., discussions 
on &hierarchy of risk8, etc.), whether that has been 
sufficiently dealt with, whether we should be looking at 
returning to the 2006 inspection numbers for OCPF sites 
rather than an increase, etc.  China and Mexico pointed to 
destruction as the clearest path to confidence.  Mexico also 
reminded delegations that, despite the apparent infrequency 
of OCPF inspections, they have an OCPF site that has been 
inspected twice since EIF of the Convention. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
SCHEDULE 2 INSPECTIONS WITH SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
7.(U) Japanese delegate (Kiwako Tanaka) reported briefly to 
Del rep that Japan had hosted the TS,s eighth Schedule 2 
inspection including sampling and analysis last week.  She 
reported that the inspection went forward without any 
difficulties and agreed to report in more detail at a later 
time. 
 
------------------- 
OCPF SITE SELECTION 
------------------- 
 
8.(U) Del rep cornered delegation representatives from Cuba, 
Mexico, and South Africa after the September 5 budget 
consultation to assess their reasoning behind asking that an 
item (OCPF site selection) be added to the agenda for EC-50, 
reminding them what they had to lose if there was any delay 
in the implementation of the DG,s revised inspection 
selection methodology.  They confirmed that the item was 
requested on behalf of the Chinese delegation.  These three 
countries said they were satisfied with the DG,s proposal 
and its implications for them and other countries with 
smaller industries and would like to see it implemented as 
soon as possible.  They said their hope is to allow the DG to 
present briefly the process leading up to his proposal and to 
allow delegations to speak up in favor of returning to 
discussions on the &missing elements8 (e.g., SP 
nominations) at some point in the future ) nothing else. 
Given that we seem to have a common goal here in supporting 
the DG,s proposal, Del rep requested that these delegations 
let us know of any plans for keeping the EC discussion from 
going in the wrong direction and how we could help. 
 
----------------------------------- 
&RISK8 AND FREQUENCY OF INSPECTIONS 
----------------------------------- 
 
9.(U) On August 30, Del rep met, at TS request, with Bill 
Kane (Head, IVB) and a member of his staff.  Kane wanted to 
hear early thoughts from the Del on the May 25 and May 28 TS 
documents on the subject.  DelRep reported that our quick 
review of the Schedule 2 document showed that a small number 
of &low risk8 sites and one &high risk8 site in the U.S. 
would move to the &medium risk8 category, meaning a very 
minimal impact on U.S. industry inspection burden.  However, 
DelRep also indicated that these documents were not likely to 
sway many of the delegations that have been the most vocal 
about the &hierarchy of risk8 and the distribution of 
industry inspections, which Kane acknowledged.  The 
discussion also included the fact that several delegations 
(e.g., Canada) had not received the documents in question 
from the TS, despite the fact that Amb. Dastis (Spain) had 
clearly asked the TS to distribute them, and how this might 
impact future consultations.  (The next such consultation is 
September 13.) 
 
------------------------------------ 
INDUSTRY CLUSTER ) LATE DECLARATIONS 
------------------------------------ 
 
10.(U) On September 4, DelRep (Larry Denyer) chaired a 
consultation on the topic of &late declarations.8  He made 
clear that this new draft decision was meant as a significant 
compromise, with the goal of a decision at the September EC 
and that work would continue until that goal was reached. 
Overall, delegations were much more positive about this most 
 
recent draft decision text than previous drafts.  Several 
delegations, including France and Japan, expressed their 
preference for &nil declarations8 but also expressed their 
willingness to move forward with the current proposed 
decision text. 
 
11.(U) There was quite a bit of discussion about concerns 
from Iran, Turkey, and Mexico about the legality of imposing 
&new8 deadlines on the submission of initial declarations 
and that this could be perceived as an official granting of 
additional time to meet a past obligation.  Russia made an 
interesting intervention about the level of scrutiny given to 
possessor States meeting their obligations, the extensive 
consideration given to Albania,s situation when they missed 
a destruction deadline, the fact that SPs who do not submit 
their declarations on time are in violation of the 
Convention, and that there is already a vehicle for dealing 
with this in Article XII. 
 
12.(U) There was also an &Article VII-like8 discussion 
about how SPs should be identified and approached with offers 
of assistance.  There was also concern expressed about any 
reference to Article VII in this decision, clearly indicating 
a lack of understanding about the provisions of the CWC that 
address implementing new decisions by the EC and CSP. 
 
13.(U) Many textual suggestions were made during the meeting. 
 The facilitator solicited the help of delegations in 
preparing a new draft, to which Mexico and Canada responded. 
A new draft has now been prepared and distributed for an 
additional consultation on the morning of September 11. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
INDUSTRY CLUSTER ) TRANSFER DISCREPANCIES 
----------------------------------------- 
 
14.(U) On September 4, Merel Jonker (Netherlands) chaired a 
consultation on the topic of &transfer discrepancies.8 
Although it was made clear that the &definition8 of the 
terms import and export in the draft decision is meant to 
serve solely as a guideline for how SPs handle declaration 
data, there is still significant confusion and concern about 
how this might impact corresponding definitions in other 
conventions, especially those dealing with customs.  The 
co-facilitators listened to the comments, including drafting 
suggestions, and committed to looking into the matter further. 
 
15.(U) The consultation reflected no urgency to get a 
decision completed before the upcoming EC, so the next 
consultation will be during the regularly scheduled Industry 
Cluster consultations in October.  Jonker announced that she 
will be leaving her post at the end of the month and would 
leave the facilitation to her Japanese counterpart (Kiwako 
Tanaka) to fly solo, unless someone is interested in stepping 
forward to be a co-facilitator. 
 
------------------------ 
ARTICLE X 
------------------------ 
 
16.(U) Del rep met informally with Jitka Brodska (Czech 
Replublic), and Emma Gordon (U.K.) this week to discuss 
upcoming plans.  The Protection Network meeting, originally 
scheduled for October has been postponed.  The Czech Republic 
is now considering a proposal that the meeting be held in 
Prague sometime in spring of next year.  Brodska said they 
have agreed in principle and Gordon felt that the U.K. would 
support the idea.  The Industry Protection Forum is scheduled 
for Nov 1-2.  Krisztof Paturej (Director Special Projects) 
has requested changes to the original proposed program. 
 
--------------------------- 
ABAF 
--------------------------- 
 
17.(U) Mary Rios (IO/MPR) attended the session of the 
Advisory Body on Administrative and Financial Matters (ABAF). 
 In her debriefing to the Del, Rios noted that the ABAF 
worked successfully with the TS to address a number of 
 
technical questions on the budget. 
 
--------------------------- 
AMCIT APPLICANTS 
--------------------------- 
 
18.(U) The Ambassador discussed hiring Amcits for positions 
at the OPCW with Ali Asghar (Head Human Resources), 
specifically encouraging the OPCW to be more  pro-actively 
engaged with prospective candidates in order not to lose them 
to other employers. 
 
19.(U) Ron Nelson (Director Administration) provided del with 
copies of the applications of all Amcit candidates for the 
currently open Head of Public Relations position and promised 
to shortlist more Amcits based on Del recommendations. 
 
------------------------------ 
Host Country Committee Meeting 
------------------------------ 
 
20.(U)  The Host Country Committee (HCC) met on September 6 
to discuss the draft document presented by the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs regarding the Tax and Duty Free shop on  the 
premises of the OPCW and outlining procedures and quotas for 
purchases.  The response from the delegations at the meeting 
was uniformly negative.  The Ambassador stated strongly that 
there was no reason to agree on anything that circumscribed 
rights already defined by prior agreements and treaties.  He 
objected to the  Ministry discussing the agreement only with 
the TS and presenting it as a fait accompli to delegations. 
Russia agreed and objected to the arbitrary imposition of any 
quota.  The Iranian Ambassador expressed resentment at the 
implication that diplomats might abuse the system.  Committee 
members are now privately conferring on how to follow up to 
prepare for a meeting with the Ministry of Finance. 
 
¶21. (U) JAVITS SENDS. 
Gallagher