VZCZCXRO8215
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHLO #0470/01 0451400
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141400Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7429
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAB/AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN PRIORITY 0143
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA PRIORITY 0571
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0274
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS PRIORITY 2645
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0150
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR PRIORITY 0173
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0727
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 3143
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 3624
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE PRIORITY 0256
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1113
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE PRIORITY 0124
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 0554

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LONDON 000470 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD UK AGR EIND
SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL RUBBER STUDY GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
MEETING 
 
REF: A) CHO-SHEETS EMAIL DATED 02/11/08, B)CHO-SHEETS EMAILS DATED 
 
02/12/08 C) STATE 10729 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Per Department of Commerce's request, Embassy 
London Econoff represented the USG during the Executive Committee 
meeting of the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) on February 
12 - 13. U.S. concerns with the contract extension for the Secretary 
General (SG) found little traction with other delegations. Based on 
discussions at the meeting, the IRSG seems ill prepared for the 
planned relocation to Singapore. The IRSG will distribute committee 
meeting minutes to all members, but this cable serves as a report on 
the committee's responses to U.S. comments. End summary 
 
Staff Issues 
------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) The selection panel chose Gerard Stapleton as the Head of 
Economics and Statistics. In response to questions raised by the 
U.S. delegation (ref A), the SG replied that Heads of Delegation 
(HOD) approved the make-up of the selection panel and that the 
selection panel decided the criteria for candidate selection. The 
U.S. abstained from the vote to approve Stapleton's selection, 
because of its concerns with the selection process outline in ref A. 
The Chair and SG said that Singapore IE and the staffing firm 
engaged by the IRSG will form the selection panel for the 
recruitment of administrative staff. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The U.S. delegation expressed its opposition to the 
one-year extension of the SG's contract using talking points 
provided (Ref A). No other delegation opposed extending the 
contract. The Indian delegation supported the extension, because it 
blames the executive committee and member states for the poor 
quality of statistics produced by the IRSG and said that high costs 
are preventing new countries from joining the group. The European 
Community (EC) characterized some of the SG's decisions as unwise, 
but said that the relocation of the IRSG offices to Singapore was 
making conditions difficult for the SG. The EC wants to renew the 
SG's contract in order to provide continuity for the IRSG after the 
relocation to Singapore. The Thai delegation supported the 
extension, but suggested that conditions could be placed on further 
extensions. Japan requested that the U.S. provide further details on 
its reasons for opposing the extension before the HOD meeting in 
March. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Chairperson accused the U.S. of "micromanagement" when 
it requested the original offers of employment provided to existing 
staff per ref A and attempted to steer the committee away from 
discussing the issue. Later, the SG pulled the U.S. delegate aside 
to say that he believed the U.S.'s facts are wrong on the 1997 
promotion of former employee Val Gardiner. During the meeting, no 
other delegation commented, but later both Japan and Sri Lanka 
expressed their concern to us privately that the Chairperson and SG 
were unwilling to provide this information. The Chairperson 
requested that the U.S. contact the SG directly with this request. 
The SG said Mr. Dock No is currently training new IRSG staff. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The SG claimed that all payments to the former head of 
economics and statistics were in accordance with IRSG rules. He said 
that at the time, the head of economics and statistics was 
performing the jobs of two individuals and therefore received two 
separate payments for these two jobs. The SG claims that no overtime 
payments were made. 
 
IRSG Secretariat Activities 
--------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The SG stated he has only made one official trip overseas 
since June 2007 and is attempting to limit travel. He said the 
single trip he made was a combined one to China for the purpose of 
seeking its membership in the IRSG and to Cambodia for the purpose 
of data gathering. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Chairperson stated that the ANRPC did have proper 
approval from the HOD and that the only concern was with the 
attendance of a single individual. She went on to say that although 
 
LONDON 00000470  002 OF 003 
 
 
the U.S. raised concerns in the meeting, the consensus was to go 
forward with the projects as planned. She promised to provide 
evidence of this in the minutes from the HOD meeting. 
 
Ownership of the long-term model 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)In response to the U.S. delegation's statement that 
ownership of the long-term rubber forecast model must determined by 
a more formal legal document (Ref A), the Chairperson requested to 
know specifically what document the U.S. would like. The U.S. 
delegation proposed to provide a draft legal document for approval 
by HOD (Ref B). The committee approved this proposal. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Chairperson said that she will ask the IAP to form a 
task force to review the long-term model. She said the IAP has not 
met since the last executive committee meeting and has therefore not 
yet set up this task force. 
 
Payment to Dr. Kees Burger 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Japanese delegation raised this issue first. The SG 
apologized and said he should have consulted with the executive 
committee before authorizing this payment. 
 
Panel of Associates 
------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Delegates raised eyebrows when the U.S. delegation asked, 
per ref A, the SG to provide a list of current Panel of Associates 
(POA) members and the dues they pay. Prior to the meeting, IRSG 
staff informed us that the SG was allowing his colleague, Dr. Kees 
Burger, from Wageningen University to be a POA member free of 
charge. The SG provided this list on February 13, but the list he 
provided did not include Wageningen University. According to an 
email from IRSG staff, the SG requested that Wageningen University 
be removed from the list immediately prior to the list being handed 
to members. IRSG staff provided us with an electronic copy of the 
list of POA members prior to the SG's alterations. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Unaware that one POA had been removed from the list; the 
committee discussed the fees for companies from member and 
non-member countries. The SG said that there had been some 
bookkeeping errors which had allowed some companies from non-member 
states to only pay 1000 GBP instead of the 2000 GBP fee. In 
addition, he was charging Chinese companies only 1000 GBP as in 
incentive for China to join the IRSG. The committee decided that 
companies from non-member countries should all pay the 1000 GBP fee 
and those from member countries should pay 2000 GBP. In addition, 
the question arose as to whether or not companies based in the EU, 
but not from member states should pay 1000 GBP or 2000 GBP. The EU 
argued that, because the companies are based in the EU they legally 
fall under the representation of the EU and should only pay the 1000 
GBP fee. The U.S. suggested that this issue be discussed further, 
because with nations such as the Netherlands and the UK recently 
withdrawing from the group, it is not fair to charge their companies 
less than those of other non-members. After the meeting the 
delegations from Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire both told the U.S. 
delegation that they do not think it is fair for companies based in 
the EU, but non-member states to only have to pay the 1000 GBP fee. 
In addition Cote d'Ivoire raised the point that the EU delegation 
only pays the basic IRSG membership, which is not based on 
production or consumption numbers. Therefore Cote D'Ivoire suggested 
that if EU intends to represent its member states which do not 
belong to the IRSG, it should pay the full membership fee based on 
its rubber production and consumption. 
 
Mission Statement 
----------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) The Chair requested that the U.S. delegation provide its 
"vision statement" for the future of the IRSG. The EU provided a 
draft mission statement for the IRSG, which the Chair says was 
requested from all delegations at the previous meeting. The deadline 
 
LONDON 00000470  003 OF 003 
 
 
for submission of mission statements from other delegations is 
February 19, 2008. After that date, the SG will draft a proposed 
mission statement for approval at the HOD based on the suggestions 
it has received. 
 
HQ Agreement with Singapore 
--------------------------- 
 
14.(SBU)The Singaporean delegation announced that all was going as 
planned regarding the 90 square meter space that was being provided 
by the Singaporean government. However, the adjacent space that the 
IRSG plans to lease may not be available by the planned relocation 
date. The Chair requested that Singapore IE provide an update on the 
relocation to her by the end of the following week. She will 
distribute this update to all member states. 
 
Constitution 
------------ 
 
¶15. (SBU) The committee went through the existing IRSG constitution 
line by line during the meeting with suggestions to update it. The 
EU delegation favors a comprehensive review and revision of the 
constitution. A copy of the constitution with delegates' suggestions 
for changes will be distributed to IRSG members for discussion at 
the HOD meeting. Other delegations responded favorably to U.S. 
proposals strengthening language on data security and altering the 
frequency of meetings (ref A). 
 
Relocation Issues 
----------------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) The SG reported that the new estate agent has located a 
prospective buyer for the current leased property and is very 
optimistic that it will receive an offer soon. In response to the 
U.S. delegations questions in ref A, the SG answered that it is open 
to all suggestions and options regarding the current IRSG property. 
 
 
Financial Audit 
--------------- 
 
¶17. (SBU) The SG and Chair both responded to the U.S. delegation's 
request in ref A for a written financial report from the SG with 
dismay. They claimed to have never heard of such a report. The Cote 
d'Ivoire delegation reminded the Chair that the International Coffee 
Organization also has such a report. The SG requested more 
information on what would be included in such a report. Other U.S. 
talking points were discussed under the budget. 
 
Draft Recommended Budget 
------------------------ 
 
¶18. (SBU) The SG provided a draft budget to the delegates which 
differed from the one distributed prior to the meeting. In addition, 
the Chair made substantial revisions. Per the U.S. delegation's 
request, the Chair will provide a copy of the revised draft to the 
delegations for review in capitols per ref A. The SG suggested using 
the IRSG's large cash reserves to offset the relocation costs. This 
proposal will also be included in the revised draft. 
 
TUTTLE