VZCZCXRO1990
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK RUEHTRO
DE RUEHUNV #0284/01 1690911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 180911Z JUN 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9601
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1672
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
AFGHA/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0102

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 UNVIE VIENNA 000284 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PREL PTER SNAR UN AF PK CA RU IT UK SW AS
NL, FR, GM 
 
SUBJECT:  KEY PARIS PACT MEMBERS URGE RESULTS RATHER THAN MEETINGS 
 
REF: A: UNVIE VIENNA 249 
 ¶B. UNVIE 006 
 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an informal June 9 meeting, key Paris Pact 
members agreed to continue their support for the Pact.  They also 
agreed to use 2010 to review the implementation of recommendations 
from three past roundtables -- precursors, financial flows, and 
cross-border management.  In addition, they proposed benchmarks to 
guide the review.  For precursors, proposed benchmarks include 
seizure statistics, prosecution rates, countries involved in 
operations, and information sharing. For financial flows, proposed 
benchmarks are prosecution rates, ratification of the relevant 
United Nations instruments to combat terrorist financing, number of 
accounts seized, and implementation of legal frameworks to combat 
corruption.  For cross-border management, proposed benchmarks are 
seizures at the border, and quality and effectiveness of 
cross-border information sharing. Participants at the June 9 meeting 
agreed to have these ideas considered by the next annual Policy 
Consultative Group (PCG) meeting scheduled for November/December 
¶2009. On behalf of the June 9 meeting participants, Counselor 
forwarded these conclusions to the independent consultant who will 
include the review of past round tables as a recommendation in his 
evaluation report on the Paris Pact for UNODC. Besides the 
conclusions on the review and the benchmarks, meeting participants 
also heard Russia advocate partnership with regional bodies in which 
Russia plays a leadership role.  Russia and France also advocated 
greater Paris Pact involvement in the implementation of UN Security 
Council resolutions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
----------------------------- 
Challenges for the Paris Pact 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In the wake of the briefing by the independent consultant 
(Neil Bailey of UK's Omega Consultancy) UNODC hired to evaluate the 
Paris Pact (Ref A), Counselor hosted an informal meeting of core 
Paris Pact member states on June 9 to discuss ways to improve the 
Pact's operational effectiveness. Representatives from Australia, 
Canada, France Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden and U.K. 
attended this meeting.  All present agreed that their countries 
would continue to support the Paris Pact because it serves a useful 
political purpose by bringing together countries some of which have 
few other channels for interacting with one another. Nevertheless, 
all have been frustrated by the paucity of concrete results from the 
15 annual expert roundtables which have been held since 2003. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Canada criticized UNODC for giving the same presentations 
at expert roundtables and at the annual Policy Consultative Group 
(PCG) meetings. Some also criticized the growing propensity for 
certain countries to send diplomats rather than experts to the 
roundtables, thus directing focus on political rather than 
operational issues. UK stressed the importance of roundtable 
participation by "the right people and the right countries," 
particularly because the Paris Pact had not been well-attended by 
critical central Asian countries. Counselor suggested establishing 
focal points of contact to encourage information sharing among 
experts. France noted that focal points already exist in the 
Automated Donor Assistance Mechanism (ADAM) but are insufficient. 
Others did not embrace the focal points idea, claiming that ADAM has 
been largely ineffective. 
 
------------------------------ 
Picking Roundtables for Review 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Counselor proposed that member states should use the next 
annual Policy Consultative Group (PCG) meeting, in November/December 
2009, to review past accomplishments, rather than to choose new 
topics for the next three roundtables in 2010.  All agreed the Pact 
should not be a forum for indefinite roundtables, and member states 
should find ways to evaluate the implementation of recommendations 
from past round tables.  They also agreed with Counselor's 
suggestion to choose two or three past roundtables for such an 
evaluation.  There was consensus that past roundtables on 
precursors, financial flows and cross-border cooperation should be 
selected for such review, and that instead of selecting new topics, 
the November/December 2009 PCG meeting should adopt the idea to 
review the three past roundtables in 2010. 
 
-------------------- 
Choosing Benchmarks 
 
UNVIE VIEN 00000284  002 OF 003 
 
 
-------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Participants then discussed benchmarks for measuring the 
results of these past roundtables.  Counselor noted that on the 
margins of the last PCG meeting in December 2008, Ambassadors (of 
the countries represented at the June 9 meeting) had urged UNODC to 
develop metrics to measure the success of the Pact (Ref B).  Germany 
suggested that it would be helpful to solicit UNODC and country 
feedback on implementation to date. Canada reminded attendees that 
some recommendations had been implemented and integrated into 
UNODC's Rainbow Strategy, so examining those recommendations would 
be a good place to start with the review.  Following French 
suggestions, meeting participants reached consensus that for 
precursors, benchmarks should include seizure statistics, 
prosecution rates, countries involved in operations, and information 
sharing. For financial flows, the benchmarks should include 
prosecution rates, ratification of the relevant United Nations 
instruments to combat terrorist financing, number of accounts 
seized, and implementation of legal frameworks to combat corruption. 
 For cross-border management, proposed benchmarks are seizures at 
the border, and quality and effectiveness of cross-border 
information sharing. 
 
----------------------------- 
Russian and French Comments 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Russia advocated greater Paris Pact cooperation with 
regional bodies such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization 
(CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).  It also 
urged Paris Pact involvement in the implementation and enforcement 
of UN Security Council resolutions by listing suspected traffickers 
and terrorists. France supported the use of UN Security Council 
resolutions, especially in the area of sanctions.  However, the 
French representative suggested that Vienna's Friends of Afghanistan 
Group, rather than the Paris Pact, may be a more suitable venue for 
tackling the issue of sanctions. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In addition, France noted that other regions, such as the 
Andean countries, were modeling parts of their multilateral 
counternarcotics efforts on the Paris Pact.  He also urged improved 
regional cooperation in Central Asia, an early goal of the Pact 
which he said has not yet been realized. 
 
------------------ 
Follow up Action 
------------------ 
 
¶8.  (U) Counselor summarized the conclusions for the attendees, and 
offered to forward them to independent consultant Neil Bailey for 
incorporation in the evaluation report he is preparing for UNODC. 
She circulated the drafted conclusions among the meeting 
participants on June 10. (Text follows in Annex, para 10.)  With no 
objections from them, she forwarded the conclusions to Bailey on 
June 15.  Bailey replied that he agreed with the conclusions and 
would include the review of past round tables as a recommendation in 
his report to the UNODC. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The Paris Pact was conceived in 2003 from a great idea - 
to coordinate and improve regional cooperation to fight Afghan 
narcotics.  Although it has definitely achieved some successes, it 
also has become more of a forum for meetings than for action.  UNODC 
was wise to seek an independent evaluation - the second in the Pact 
history - before proceeding to a third phase.  We hope that the 
conclusions from our informal June 9 meeting will help the Paris 
Pact to focus more on results rather than meetings.  End Comment. 
 
----- 
Annex 
----- 
 
¶9.  (U) The following text was circulated among the June 9 meeting 
participants and forwarded to the independent consultant. 
 
BEGIN QUOTE:  Representatives of the following permanent missions in 
Vienna met June 9 to discuss ways to make Paris Pact more effective. 
 The participating countries in the meeting were: Australia, Canada, 
France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, U.K. and U.S. 
 
The participants made the following recommendations to improve Paris 
Pact: 1) All present want to continue to support the Paris Pact, 2) 
However, all agree that the Pact should not be an indefinite round 
 
UNVIE VIEN 00000284  003 OF 003 
 
 
of roundtables.  Instead, there should be some stocktaking of how 
recommendations from past roundtables have been implemented.  A 
practical way to do it is to choose two or three of past roundtables 
for in-depth follow up and review, 3) Therefore, at the annual 
policy consultative group meeting in November/December 2009, member 
states should decide not decide new topics for the three roundtables 
in 2010.  Instead, they should decide to use 2010 to review the 
implementation of the recommendations of three past roundtables, 4) 
There was agreement to choose the following three roundtables for 
review: a)Precursors, b)Financial flows, c)Cross-border 
cooperation., 5) There was also agreement that benchmarks should be 
established for such review.  Proposed benchmarks include: a) For 
precursors: seizure statistics, prosecution rates, countries 
involved in operations, and information sharing; b) For Financial 
flows: Prosecution rates, ratification of FATF, number of accounts 
seized, implementation of legal frameworks to combat corruption, and 
efforts to combat terrorist financing; implementation of the UNSC 
resolutions against terrorist financing., c) Cross-border 
cooperation, with focus on the immediate neighbors at this point 
(Pakistan and Iran):  information-sharing, communication, joint 
border exercises. END QUOTE 
 
 
SCHULTE