VZCZCXYZ0008
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #0107/01 0501725
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191725Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3790
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 000107 
 
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, DENYER AND CRISTOFARO) 
NSC FOR LUTES 
WINPAC FOR WALTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL AORC OPCW CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 19, 2010 
 
REF: THE HAGUE 89 
 
This is CWC-13-10 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) As preparations advanced for the Executive 
Council meeting (EC-59) February 22-26 (reftel), 
facilitators held informal consultations on Article 
XI and the Report on the Status of Implementation of 
the External Auditor's Recommendations.  The Western 
European and Others Group (WEOG) held its weekly 
meeting February 16 to discuss the EC-59 issues. 
WEOG agreed to the nomination of the French 
Ambassador as the next EC Chairman, and also agreed 
that its first meeting during EC-59 should be 
expanded to include the like-minded states known as 
WEOG-Plus. 
 
---- 
WEOG 
---- 
 
¶2. (SBU) At its regular Tuesday meeting February 16, 
the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) 
officially agreed to the nomination of French 
Ambassador Jean-Francois Blarel as WEOG's choice to 
chair the Executive Council (EC) beginning in May 
¶2010.  French Delegate Raja Rabia was also approved 
as WEOG's nominee to facilitate discussions on 
Universality, pending agreement from the other 
regional groups.  After acclamation by applause, 
Blarel said that he would work for a good transition 
at the helm of the Organization and to address 
sensitive issues, including continuing the 
consultations on the final destruction deadlines 
begun by current EC Chairman Lomonaco (Mexico). 
 
¶3. (SBU) WEOG Coordinator Ruth Surkau (Germany) then 
asked for views on expanding the WEOG meeting during 
the EC to include non-WEOG European Union members, 
Japan and South Korea.  The group approved an 
expanded WEOG-Plus meeting at the beginning of EC-59 
(February 23), with the Australian delegate 
proposing more regular meetings as WEOG-Plus as 
often as every fortnight.  The Swiss delegate said 
the expanded group was useful but that WEOG should 
not institutionalize it; the Dutch Ambassador agreed 
with that view. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Turning to the EC-59 agenda, the group 
discussed the controversy over the Director- 
General's proposed agenda item on the composition of 
the Technical Secretariat (TS) staff and South 
Africa's strong opposition (reftel).  Several 
delegations (UK, U.S., Germany, Italy, Netherlands) 
spoke in favor of having the Council decide what 
should be published in a report on TS staffing, 
rather than one delegation (South Africa) obtaining 
information privately from the TS and then issuing a 
national paper, as happened in October.  Surkau also 
pointed to another new document on Key Terms that 
may arouse heated debate, particularly on the part 
of Iran. 
 
¶5. (SBU) There was little discussion on the Article 
XI consultation scheduled for February 26 (see 
below), or the status of the external auditor's 
recommendations (also below).  There was more 
interest when the Dutch Ambassador asked if anyone 
else had been invited to the South African lunch at 
the beginning of the EC week.  The U.S., UK, German 
and Spanish delegations acknowledged invitations but 
no one had heard what the agenda might be. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Australian delegate announced for 
facilitator Mike Byers, who was not present, that he 
planned to defer consideration of the TS Note on the 
OPCW's counter-terrorism  efforts until he could 
hold a discussion (likely in March).  Surkau 
announced the two open meetings on industry issues, 
on sampling and analysis and site selection for 
Other Chemical Production Facilities (OCPFs), now 
scheduled for February 25. 
 
---------- 
ARTICLE XI 
---------- 
 
¶7. (U) Facilitator Chen Kai (China) convened a 
meeting on February 19 to kick off discussions on 
the Article XI workshop agreed during the Conference 
of the States Parties (CSP-14) in December.  The 
Cuban Ambassador briefly introduced a non-paper 
prepared by his delegation with "terms of reference" 
and a draft schedule for the workshop.  He said that 
the Cuban non-paper was just one input in shaping 
the workshop and also noted that he expects 
substantive discussion on the topic at EC-59. 
Kumaresh Misra (Head, International Cooperation 
Branch) then presented a TS draft concept paper, 
which he described as having many similarities to 
the Cuban non-paper.  (Del Note:  Both the TS and 
Cuban non-papers will be sent by e-mail to ISN/CB. 
End Note.) 
 
¶8. (U) Turning to the timing of the workshop, Chen 
said that October (as proposed by Cuba) or later 
would be realistic; he later stated that the 
workshop's conclusions would need to be considered 
by the EC and then the CSP, so it would need to be 
held before the October EC.  The Australian 
delegate, noting that funding would be an important 
factor, suggested scheduling the workshop close to 
another meeting in The Hague (e.g., the annual 
meeting for National Authorities in late November) 
to reduce travel expenses.  Misra noted that the 
audience might be different to that attending the 
National Authorities meeting, so there might not be 
significant savings.  The Tunisian Ambassador 
reminded delegations that Tunisia will be hosting 
ASSISTEX-3 in mid-October.  The South African 
delegate suggested holding the workshop in late 
September. 
 
¶9. (U) Responding to a request for more detail on 
the TS projected budget for the workshop, Misra 
stated that it is a very rough estimate and will 
depend on how many participants would be funded, 
costs for facilitators and other meeting expenses. 
The Iranian delegate then raised a number of 
concerns with both the Cuban and TS draft papers. 
He said that it would be difficult to limit 
participation to only 80 and that 2-2.5 days would 
not be enough time to discuss the "very important" 
issues related to "all aspects" for the "full 
implementation" of Article XI.  The UK delegate 
noted that there have been previous non-papers with 
ideas for the workshop, including one circulated by 
the UK in July 2008.  The Dutch Ambassador, 
referring to the CSP-14 decision authorizing the 
workshop (C-14/DEC.11), stressed the need to remain 
within the mandate given by the decision.  Turning 
to the Cuban non-paper, he noted that one subset of 
its proposed agenda appears to be technical while 
the other subset is clearly political. 
 
¶10. (SBU) There was almost no mention of the TS 
annual report on Article XI implementation, up for 
Qannual report on Article XI implementation, up for 
consideration at EC-59.  Chen seems to be focused 
entirely on the workshop and announced plans to hold 
a follow-on consultation between EC-59 and EC-60 
with a view to finalizing details in for approval at 
EC-61 in June. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
IMPLEMENTATION OF EXTERNAL AUDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶11. (U) On February 17, Facilitator Nik Granger 
(U.S.) chaired a meeting on the semi-annual report 
on TS implementation of outstanding recommendations 
by the External Auditor.  Members of the TS gave 
oral updates on five sets of recommendations dating 
from between 2005 and 2008: 
- unliquidated obligations 
- recruitment contract to Creative Marketing 
Services 
- non-expendable property 
- procurement 
- reduction in receivables due related to the U.S.- 
OPCW tax reimbursement agreement. 
 
¶12. (U) Based on the TS updates, delegations agreed 
to close consideration of the relevant 
recommendations as they either have been fully 
implemented or are no longer valid.  There was some 
discussion about the changes to the Financial Rules 
and Regulations necessitated by the introduction of 
IPSAS (the International Public Sector Accounting 
Standards), and the German delegate requested that 
the amendments be circulated as soon as possible to 
give sufficient time for review even though they 
will be taken up by the Advisory Body on 
Administrative and Financial Matters (ABAF) before 
coming before the EC for consideration in June.  The 
facilitator also asked delegations to consider 
whether the current semi-annual reporting by the TS 
-- introduced in 2001 -- still is necessary and 
proposed discussing the matter after the release of 
the External Auditor's Report for 2009, due in May. 
 
¶13. (U) BEIK SENDS. 
 
LEVIN