VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #0253/01 1071835
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 171835Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2762
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC//OSAC PRIORITY

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000253 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR 
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP> 
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC 
COMMERCE FOR BIS (BROWN AND DENYER) 
NSC FOR LUTES 
WINPAC FOR WALTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC:  WRAP-UP FOR APRIL 6-17, 2009 
 
REF: A. THE HAGUE 244 
     ¶B. THE HAGUE 236 
 
This is CWC-22-09. 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Following the industry cluster 
consultations (Ref A), the Chairperson of the 
Executive Council (EC) held informal consultations 
on the status of preparations for EC-56 (reported 
in ref B).  Informal consultations were also held 
on Article X Assistance and Protection on April 7, 
and on reports from the Office of Internal 
Oversight and the External Auditor on April 8 and 
¶15.  The Western European and Others Group (WEOG) 
held its regular weekly meeting on April 7. 
Ambassador Alpar of Turkey called on U.S. Delreps 
on April 9 to lobby for the Turkish candidate for 
Director-General (DG).  The week of April 13 was 
particularly quiet as many delegates and senior 
Technical Secretariat (TS) staff decamped to 
Istanbul for the Workshop on Universality. 
 
---- 
WEOG 
---- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The April 7 WEOG meeting focused on Iraq's 
recent declaration and feedback from the previous 
week's industry cluster meetings.  The U.S. and UK 
informed the group that both would be providing 
information on recovered munitions in Iraq 
following Iraq's presentation at the destruction 
informals (April 20).  WEOG coordinator Ruth Surkau 
(Germany) thought that difficult debate could be 
expected on establishing a destruction deadline for 
Iraq, if not at this upcoming EC meeting then 
likely at the Conference of the States Parties 
(CSP-14) in December.  She also noted the DG's 
previous statement that OPCW inspectors would be 
asked to conduct inspections inside Iraq on a 
voluntary basis due to the precarious security 
situation on the ground. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Italian delegate Cornacchia asserted that 
WEOG delegations should take a pro-active role on 
Iraq's accession to the OPCW and not leave Iraq 
alone to sort out the complexities of its 
declaration.  German Ambassador Burkart highlighted 
the section in the Iraqi declaration documenting in 
vague terms the stockpiling of CW in certain 
bunkers, suggesting that the Iraqis themselves are 
not certain of their declarable amounts.  He then 
warned about the thorny questions to follow, most 
likely from Iran, on the list of supplier countries 
in the Iraqi declaration, and proposed that WEOG 
develop a strategy to deal with this issue. Dutch 
Ambassador de Savornin Lohman noted that how WEOG 
and the OPCW in general deal with Iraq will be 
viewed by those still outside the CWC, particularly 
those that may possess CW. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Regarding the Industry Cluster meetings, 
Surkau shared that China plans to push for report 
language at EC-56 on site selection methodology for 
Other Chemical Production Facilities (OCPFs) as 
they had done during EC-55.  Cornacchia supported 
the Chinese proposal in the hope that it might 
attract a facilitator for consultations on the 
issue.  No WEOG delegations indicated their 
willingness to offer a facilitator. 
 
¶5. (SBU) On 2A/2A* low consultations, Cornacchia 
(facilitator for the issue) noted that, following 
the Industry Cluster, he spoke with delegations 
about the proposal to circulate a questionnaire on 
the anticipated impact of various thresholds (ref 
A).  Despite having raised opposition during the 
consultation, Japan seemed far more flexible in 
private; Cornacchia said he hopes to circulate a 
draft questionnaire, along with revised report 
language on a draft decision. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Any Other Business:  In response to a 
question about the upcoming Universality Conference 
in Istanbul, the Turkish delegate stated that 
Ankara still had not received any response from 
Cairo or Damascus to invitations to attend.  Israel 
would be sending its DCM from its Embassy in 
Ankara, and Burma planned on sending an official 
from Rangoon. 
 
------------------------ 
TURKISH CANDIDATE FOR DG 
------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) Turkish Ambassador Selahattin Alpar called 
on Delreps April 9 to present the nomination for 
Turkish candidate for Director-General, Ahmet 
Uzumcu, and solicit U.S. support for his candidacy. 
He provided a diplomatic note and resume for 
Uzumcu, currently Turkey's Permanent Delegate to 
the United Nations in Geneva and Permanent 
Representative to the Conference on Disarmament 
(documents scanned and sent to ISN/CB). 
 
¶8. (SBU) Alpar emphasized Uzumcu's experience in 
diplomacy, disarmament and management, and noted 
that he may bridge support from different regional 
groups.  He said he had called on the German and 
Algerian ambassadors to wish them well in a 
"friendly competition."   Delrep thanked Alpar for 
the information, noted that the U.S. has not yet 
made any decisions on candidates, and said that we 
expected to work with WEOG on strategy once the 
field of candidates is complete in July so that the 
large number of western candidates will not be 
splitting support.   Alpar said that Uzumcu will be 
in The Hague for a couple of days during EC-56; he 
and Delrep set a tentative time for U.S. EC 
Representative Mikulak to meet with Uzumcu during 
his visit.  Alpar said Uzumcu also plans to travel 
to Washington later this spring, but the dates are 
not yet set. 
 
--------- 
ARTICLE X 
--------- 
 
¶9. (U) Informal consultations on April 8 led by new 
facilitator Maciek Karasinski (Poland) began with a 
short presentation by the TS on the Databank on 
Assistance and Protection.  The TS admitted to gaps 
in the database due to limitations on time and 
personnel.  The presentation produced little 
comment.  The TS made a request that States Parties 
provide updated information for the list of 
experts. 
 
¶10. (U) Following a review of the report (EC- 
55/DG.5) regarding information provided on National 
Protective Programs, some questions were raised as 
to how best to encourage member states to send in 
information each year in April.  The TS responded 
defensively, noting that reminders are sent out to 
every member state each year before the April due 
date. 
 
¶11. (U) Evaluation of Effectiveness - Note by the 
TS EC-55/S/2.  Delegates were generally pleased 
that the TS had produced this document; however, 
many delegates found the language too general.  The 
Czech delegate made a request for a more in-depth 
analysis based on stated objectives that could be 
produced on a regular basis. 
 
¶12. (U) For EC-56, Karasinski stated his intention 
to note the two documents above along with a 
request that an evaluation paper be produced on a 
regular basis and that it include recommendations 
for future work. 
 
---------------------------- 
OFFICE OF INTERNAL OVERSIGHT 
---------------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) At an informal consultation held on April 
8, facilitator Takayuki Kitagawa (Japan) handed out 
an informal paper summarizing the status of 
recommendations of the Office of Internal Oversight 
(OIO).  Questions from delegates regarding the 
travel management system, records management and 
the rate at which education certificates have been 
translated were answered without producing any 
controversy.  EC-55/S/6 and EC-56/DG.5 were 
reviewed and will be sent to EC-56 for noting by 
the Council.  Delegates seemed willing to wait for 
the following week's meeting on the annual report 
of the OIO to get more information. 
 
¶14. (SBU) During the follow-on consultation on 
April 15, OIO Director Mohamed Louati presented the 
OIO annual report for 2008 (EC-56/DG.6).  Louati 
noted OIO's increased workload in 2008 due to a 
rise in requests for advice from the TS Front 
Office.  (Del Note:  Del has been hearing 
informally that the Front Office insists on sending 
all decisions, no matter how minor or routine, to 
the Legal Advisor and OIO for opinions before 
acting on them.  End Note.)  Louati announced that 
in early April the OPCW Lab received an extension 
of its ISO accreditation by the Netherlands 
Accreditation Council to 2013. 
 
¶15. (U) Kitagawa then went through the report 
section-by-section allowing delegations to raise 
questions and seek clarification from Louati, David 
O'Regan (Internal Auditor) and Administration 
Director Ron Nelson.  Responding to a question from 
the Dutch delegate, Louati said that the first-ever 
external review of OIO -- requested by the 
Netherlands and other delegations during the 2009 
budget consultations -- is planned for October. 
U.S. Delrep asked about plans to regularize 
positions in the TS as recommended by OIO for a 
number of offices; Nelson responded that the DG was 
firm on maintaining the number of fixed-term staff 
at its present number (523).  Nelson also noted 
that there are not any unfilled fixed-term 
positions that could be converted, so the TS plans 
to continue relying on short-term contracts to fill 
staffing needs. 
 
¶16. (U) Before ending the meeting, Kitagawa 
announced his intention to brief the Council on the 
outcome of both rounds of consultations and 
recommend that all three reports under 
consideration be noted.  No delegations voiced any 
opposition.  However, Kitagawa later told Delrep 
that South African delegate van Schalkwyk, who was 
absent from consultations, said he would ask for 
deferral of the OIO annual report during EC-56 in 
order to have more time to study it. 
 
¶17. (U) BEIK SENDS. 
 
GALLAGHER