R 031128Z SEP 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 094059 
 
 
BUENOS AIRES FOR EST 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/30/2033 
TAGS: MTCRE KSCA PARM PREL MNUC ETTC TSPA AR
 
SUBJECT: MTCR:  ARGENTINE SPACE LAUNCH VEHICLE (SLV) 
PROGRAM 
 
REF: A. BUENOS AIRES 691 AND PREVIOUS 
      ¶B. STATE 50050 AND PREVIOUS 
      ¶C. STATE 67398 
      ¶D. BUENOS AIRES 1178 
  
 Classified By: ISN/MTR Director Pam Durham. 
 Reason:  1.5 (B), (D). 
  
  
 ¶1.  (U)  This is an action request.  Embassy Buenos Aires, 
 please see paragraph 5. 
  
 ¶2.  (C)  BACKGROUND:  REF D reports the government of 
 Argentina's (GOA's) agreement to the U.S. request for 
 transparency on Argentina's space launch vehicle (SLV) 
 program (REF B and REF C) and request for additional U.S. 
 thinking on the timing of an initial briefing on the 
 Argentine SLV program and subsequent expert-level discussions 
 in Washington and Buenos Aires. Specifically, the GOA has 
 committed to provide the United States with full transparency 
 into its SLV program, including annual consultations on the 
 status of the program and on imports/exports relating to the 
 program, and the option of periodic site/s visits.  As a 
 first step, Argentina would like to provide a one-time ""state 
 of play"" briefing to U.S. officials and has requested that 
 this meeting take place in Washington sometime after January 
 1, 2009.  The GOA also would like to establish a notional 
 schedule for  annual U.S.-Argentina consultations on the SLV 
 program. 
  
 ¶3.  (C)  PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: In response to the GOA's request, 
 we want to advise appropriate GOA officials that the U.S. 
 would welcome an initial ""state of play"" briefing on 
 Argentina's SLV program and would be willing to host a 
 one-day meeting for this purpose in Washington, D.C. in late 
 January or early February 2009.  NOTE:  We would view this 
 briefing as separate and distinct from the one time briefing 
 we have asked Argentina to provide to the 33 Missile 
 Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Partners - probably via a 
 short information paper (REF C).  END NOTE. 
  
 ¶4.  (C)  With regard to annual U.S.-Argentina consultations 
 on the status of Argentina's SLV program, we want to advise 
 the GOA that the U.S. would envision the ""annual 
 consultations"" being a half-day to one-day meeting that would 
 be held on a mutually agreed date each year in either 
 Washington or Buenos Aires (venue would alternate).  Ideally, 
 the first such consultations would be held in Buenos Aires, 
 sometime in the May-July 2009 timeframe.  The second annual 
 meeting would then take place in Washington in May-July 2010. 
 As noted in REF C, we would expect both sides to be 
 represented at these talks by an appropriate expert-level 
 delegation, and that the U.S. delegation would be led by the 
 State Department's Director for Missile Threat Reduction.  We 
 also would expect the agenda for the meeting to be agreed in 
 advance by the two governments. 
  
 ¶5.  (C)  ACTION REQUEST:  Drawing on the information provided 
 in paragraphs 4-5 above -- and, as necessary, in REF B and 
 REF C -- request Embassy Buenos Aires convey the following to 
 CONAE Director Varotto and appropriate Argentine MFA 
 officials: 
  
 --The U.S. welcomes and appreciates Argentina's agreement to 
 provide full transparency into its SLV program, including 
 annual consultations on the status of the program and on 
 imports/exports relating to the program, and the option of 
 periodic site/s visits. 
  
 --The U.S. would welcome an initial ""state of play"" briefing 
 from Argentina on the SLV program and would be willing to 
 host a meeting for this purpose in Washington, D.C. in late 
 January or early February 2009. 
  
 --The U.S. would envision the U.S.-Argentina annual 
 consultations on the SLV program being a half-day to one-day 
 meeting that would be held on a mutually agreed date each 
 year and that these discussions would take place in either 
 Washington or Buenos Aires (venue would alternate).  Ideally, 
 the first such consultations would be held in Buenos Aires, 
 sometime in the May-July 2009 timeframe. 
  
 In addition, post should clarify that the initial state of 
 play briefing envisioned for January/February 2009 would be 
 for the U.S. only and would be separate from whatever 
 briefing Argentina provides to the MTCR Partners on its SLV 
 program.  Our suggestion for briefing the MTCR Partners would 
 be for Argentina to circulate a short information paper to 
 all the MTCR Partners via the French MTCR Point of Contact. 
 However, the modalities for providing such a briefing are 
 entirely up to Argentina. 
  
 ¶6.  (U) Washington POC is ISN/MTR Director Pam Durham (Phone: 
 202-647-4931).  Please slug any reporting on this issue for 
 ISN and WHA. 
 RICE 
  
  
 NNNN 
  



 End Cable Text