R 141543Z JUL 08
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8197
INFO VIENNA IAEA POSTS COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW

S E C R E T UNVIE VIENNA 000395 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2018 
TAGS: AORC PARM MNUC TGRY KNPP KN SY IR IN
 
SUBJECT: IAEA: DG CONCERNED ABOUT INDIA AGREEMENT; SEEKS 
LEADING ROLE ON DPRK VERIFICATION 
 
REF: A. A) STATE 72006 
     ¶B. B) UNVIE 392 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Gregory L. Schulte for reasons 1.4 b and d 
 
¶1. (S) SUMMARY:  Responding to ref A demarche, IAEA DG 
ElBaradei assured Ambassador Schulte on July 14 that he will 
continue to support the India safeguards agreement and hoped 
for consensus at the August 1 Board of Governors but 
indicated Pakistan could be problematic.  He urged the U.S. 
to highlight the agreement's positive aspects and send a 
message to Pakistan that it too could one day be in a 
position to benefit from such an agreement.  On DPRK, 
ElBaradei noted the July 12 DPRK Press Communique from the 
Six Parties mention of the IAEA's role in verification and 
insisted that the IAEA would have to be in the lead or have 
no involvement at all. The DG assured Ambassador Schulte that 
the IAEA continues to ask for more information from Syria. 
He noted that samples analysis would take several months and 
did not anticipate resolving the Syria issue before the 
September Board.  The DG did not have any update on Iran and 
mentioned that he will meet with Solana in Berlin on July 15. 
 The DG also indicated some "cautious optimism" that the 
Russian proposal on Reliable Access to Nuclear Fuel (RANF) 
may become "unstuck" in the Russian bureaucracy in the near 
future.  The DG suggested that EU support and that of a few 
developing countries, such as South Africa or Mexico, would 
lend credibility to the IAEA-NTI fuel bank proposal. Turning 
to the negotiations on the Technical Cooperation Fund (TCF), 
he pushed the U.S. to pledge more and "stop fighting about 
pocket change with the G77".  END SUMMARY 
 
----- 
INDIA 
----- 
 
¶2.  (S)  DG ElBaradei noted the IAEA's full backing of the 
India safeguards agreement and assured Ambassador Schulte 
that he would continue to voice his support both publicly and 
privately.  Drawing on ref B, Ambassador encouraged the DG to 
facilitate an early consensus decision. ElBaradei did not 
have concerns about securing support from Canada, China, and 
Finland, countries he had mentioned previously, but was 
concerned about Pakistan.  ElBaradei urged the U.S. to send a 
signal to Pakistan that the India agreement could serve as a 
possible precedent for other countries, including Pakistan, 
assuming they "clean up their own nuclear house."  ElBaradei 
was also concerned that the July 18 briefing by India on the 
agreement could be perceived as "defensive."  He judged that 
it would be inappropriate for the IAEA to be part of the 
presentation.  Ambassador Schulte urged ElBaradei to 
reconsider this view.  The DG also said there will be no 
technical briefing unless specifically requested; however, 
his legal staff would be available to member states to answer 
questions on a bilateral basis (Note: The Secretariat had 
pushed back against the Board Chair's suggestion of a 
technical briefing, preferring to treat this as a routine 
agreement.  End note.) 
 
---- 
DPRK 
---- 
 
¶3. (S)  After briefly reviewing the July 12 DPRK Press 
Communique from the Six Parties mentioning the IAEA's role in 
the verification process, the DG forcefully insisted on the 
IAEA having the lead in verification or having no role at 
all.  The DG disagreed with Ambassador Schulte's observation 
that verification was a shared responsibility in Libya and 
reiterated his point.  He welcomed Ambassador Schulte's 
suggestion to have a team of experts sit down with their IAEA 
counterparts to discuss the verification regime planned for 
the DPRK. 
 
---- 
IRAN 
---- 
 
¶4.  (S)  The DG did not have any update on the Iran file but 
mentioned that he would meet with Solana on July 15 in 
Berlin.  He did not provide details. ElBaradei said the focus 
now should be on negotiation. Ambassador Schulte countered 
saying that both tracks of the dual-track strategy should 
proceed in tandem, as should the IAEA investigation of 
weaponization. 
 
----- 
SYRIA 
----- 
 
¶5.  (S)  ElBaradei confirmed the IAEA investigation is 
 
 
ongoing with inspectors asking follow-up questions and 
waiting for responses.  The DG expects results from 
environmental samples taken during the June 22-24 visit 
within the next few months.  He doubted that the IAEA would 
make much progress in the investigation by the September 
Board.  Ambassador Schulte reiterated our view that Syria 
should be on the agenda of the September Board meeting. 
 
---- 
RANF 
---- 
 
¶6.  (S)  Responding to Ambassador Schulte's observation that 
the UAE is interested in supporting the IAEA-NTI fuel bank, 
the DG said the EU plus a few developing countries, such as 
South Africa and Mexico, would also need to come on board to 
lend legitimacy to the project.  The DG assured Ambassador 
Schulte that there would be a defined "concept" on this fuel 
bank for the Board to approve.  ElBaradei anticipates 
countries such as Egypt and Pakistan may have reservations 
about the project.  He also noted that there is some 
"cautious optimism" that the Russian proposal may become 
"unstuck" in the Russian bureaucracy in the near future. 
 
--- 
TCF 
--- 
 
¶7.  (S)  The DG stressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of 
agreement on the Technical Cooperation Fund (TCF) figures. 
He noted the resentment he has heard from G77 members about 
the major donors lack of willingness to pledge more money for 
TCF while they at the same time are willing to spend money on 
AIPS and on India.  He advised Ambassador Schulte to "give 
the G77 85 or 86 to make them happy."  Ambassador Schulte 
noted U.S. readiness to support 83.5 million USD in the last 
TCF negotiating session and shared with the DG that the U.S. 
could go as high as 84 million USD.  He added that this is 
the largest one time increase in TCF history, and encouraged 
ElBaradei to weigh in with the G77 to facilitate compromise. 
SCHULTE 
 
 
NNNN 
 



End Cable Text