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FM AMEMBASSY VILNIUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4127
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA IMMEDIATE 0012
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE IMMEDIATE 0242
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000078 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2020 
TAGS: OSCE MOPS PREL AF LH
SUBJECT: LITHUANIA'S 2011 OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP 
 
Classified By: CDA Damian R. Leader for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (U) ACTION REQUEST.  See paragraph 9. 
 
 
¶2.  (C) Ambassador met with MFA Ambassador-at-Large Rytis 
Paulauskas on January 20 to discuss the GOL's plans for its 
OSCE chairmanship in 2011.  Paulauskas said the GOL will 
focus on human dimension issues of media freedom and election 
observations.  He shared the GOL's plan to reinvigorate 
sub-regional cooperation in the South Caucasus and Central 
Asia.  He said that the topic of energy security is political 
and noted that the OSCE is undergoing a review of its role in 
energy security.  The GOL is engaging the Kazakhs through the 
Troika and bilaterally to collaborate on OSCE priorities 
during the Kazakh Chairmanship.  The GOL will meet with the 
Kazakhs to suggest a joint FM visit to Moldova and encourage 
them to focus on human rights and to conduct their 
Chairmanship with transparency and follow-through. 
 
 
----------------------------- 
GOL's Chairmanship Priorities 
----------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Paulauskas said that he wanted to meet with us to 
share the GOL's food-for-thought paper "Revitalizing the OSCE 
Role as a Forum for Sub-regional Cooperation" (non-paper 
emailed on February 2 to EUR/NB).  He said that the GOL wants 
to strengthen sub-regional cooperation in the South Caucasus 
and in Central Asia, and expand on Russia's idea to have 
meetings with OSCE, EU, NATO, CSTO and CIS by also including 
the Council of Baltic Sea States and others.  He offered that 
the GOL is open to suggestions on ways to reinvigorate 
sub-regional cooperation and added that this topic will 
become part of the Corfu process. 
 
 
¶4.  (C) Paulauskas provided an overview of the current GOL 
thinking on Chairmanship priorities.  He said that human 
dimension topics will include media freedom and election 
observations.  Ambassador Derse emphasized that the U.S. 
wants to see the OSCE maintain its important role in election 
observations.  She also suggested that women's empowerment, 
which is a cross-cutting issue in OSCE, Community of 
Democracies and other forums, be added to the GOL's agenda 
and advocated for strong bilateral partnership in this area. 
Paulauskas agreed that women's empowerment would be an 
excellent theme for the human dimension.  He said that the 
GOL will try to create a consultative group of international 
NGOs to advise on Chairmanship priorities and will take 
advantage of the upcoming Third Regional Meeting of Council 
of Europe NGOs in April to advance this agenda.  Paulauskas 
said the GOL wants to hold a Chairmanship event in 2011 on 
media freedom and invite international NGOs.  He asked for 
USG support on this initiative because he anticipates the GOL 
will run into some opposition.  Paulauskas noted that the 
Finns did something similar. 
 
 
¶5.  (C)  Ambassador Derse asked Paulauskas if energy security 
would be a priority during the GOL's Chairmanship. 
Paulauskas explained that a decision already had been taken 
in Athens to hold an experts meeting to discuss the value 
that OSCE can add to the issue of energy security.  After the 
experts meeting, the Secretary General will prepare a report 
that will inform a Ministerial-level decision on whether or 
not the OSCE should play a continued role in energy security. 
 This decision will in turn determine what the GOL can 
accomplish in this area.  Paulauskas said that the GOL is not 
adverse to drawing attention to energy security but noted 
that it is a political topic.  He said that Russia is 
amenable to technical discussions on protecting critical 
energy infrastructure but it does not want to address the 
political aspects of the issue.  He added that focus on 
renewable energy is less likely to be controversial. 
 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Troika Talks and the Kazakh Chairmanship 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Ambassador Derse asked Paulauskas about the progress 
of Troika talks and urged the GOL to work with the GOK to 
make its Chairmanship as productive as possible.  He 
responded that the GOL will use every opportunity to meet 
with the Troika members and to hold discussions at the 
Foreign Minister (FM) level.  Paulauskas said that the FM 
troika will hold a meeting in Brussels on January 26 together 
 
VILNIUS 00000078  002 OF 002 
 
 
with a representative from the EU Presidency.  He elaborated 
that the GOL would hold a bilateral meeting with the Khazaks 
before the Troika meeting to raise the following: 
 
-- Caucasus.  The GOL will try to provide some guidance to 
the Khazaks prior to their travel through the Caucasus in the 
first half of February. 
 
-- Moldova.  The GOL is suggesting a joint FM visit to 
Moldova.  The Kazakhs have noted that this is not a 
conventional approach but (so far) the GOK has not said no. 
 
-- Human rights.  Paulauskas noted that Chairman Saudabayev 
recently made a speech about the importance of the Office for 
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). 
 
-- Transparency.  The OSCE Chair must be transparent and 
committed to follow through on promises. 
 
-- Corfu Process.  Ask what the FM sees as priorities for the 
Corfu process. 
 
-- Plans for a high-level meeting on Afghanistan. 
(Ambassador Derse noted that the U.S. is not in favor of a 
summit at this time.) 
 
------------------------------------ 
GOL Plans for Chairmanship Resources 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Ambassador Paulauskas provided an update on the 
GOL's OSCE staffing plans leading up to its Chairmanship. He 
said that four diplomats will go to Vienna to staff the GOL's 
new OSCE office.  In Vilnius the OSCE team has five staff 
members at present but Paulauskas wants twelve to fourteen by 
summer 2010.  He asked if it would be possible to have a USG 
official on the team who could help the GOL with drafting. 
We told him that we would explore this idea with Washington. 
Regarding financial resources, Paulauskas said that he has 1M 
litai (USD 420k) to spend on preparations this year.  He 
lamented that the GOL can't match Kazakhstan's investment in 
its OSCE Chairmanship and estimated that the GOL will need a 
minimum of 7M euros to fund its Chairmanship (USD 9.7M).  He 
said that OSCE priorities will be decided by MFA, the 
Interior Ministry, the President and the Parliament. 
Paulauskas added that a decision on political priorities will 
help to align budget priorities. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Paulauskas' team organized a meeting on January 28 
with law enforcement officials to discuss anti-trafficking, 
border management, counter terrorism and other issues which 
will help to inform the GOL's OSCE agenda.  He said that the 
GOL will organize a second round table meeting on July 1-2 as 
a follow up to its kick off round table meeting that took 
place last October 22-23 in Vilnius.  The Foreign Minister 
will chair the meeting and the OSCE's Secretary General is 
also invited. 
 
-------------- 
Action Request 
-------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) We have a continuing opportunity to advance our 
priorities during the Lithuanian chairmanship in 2011 and 
while it holds membership in the Troika in 2010 and 2012, and 
will work closely with the GOL to ensure that it is informed 
on USG views. Having a USG official join the GOL's OSCE team 
also would be an excellent opportunity to share USG thinking 
directly with the OSCE Chairmanship team and to track the 
latest OSCE developments.  We would appreciate guidance on 
how to proceed with this request. 
LEADER