US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE424

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 000424 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AC/CB, NP/CBM, VC/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S 
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP 
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC 
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN) 
NSC FOR CHUPA 
WINPAC FOR LIEPMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, CWC 
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC):  WRAP-UP FOR 
WEEK ENDING 13 FEB 2004 
 
 
 This is CWC-22-04. 
 
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National Implementation Measures 
-------------------------------- 
 
1.  (U)  Del rep met on February 11 with Ralf Trapp, Special 
Assistant to DDG Brian Hawtin, who reported that only nine 
countries responded to the TS Note Verbale requesting States 
Party respond with their requests for or offers of assistance 
by February 1; one responded on February 2.  Of the ten 
responses, five were requests for assistance, five were 
offers of assistance.  Trapp noted his disappointment with 
the poor response to the Note Verbale. 
 
2.  (U)  On February 9, Del rep met with International 
Cooperation and Assistance Division Director John Makhubalo 
and the head of the Implementation Support Branch (ISB) Magda 
Bauta Soles to discuss draft TS letters to AC/CB on the 
actual costs of the Article VI and Legal Network meetings 
funded from the U.S. voluntary contribution.  Makhubalo 
assessed that both meetings were successes, and came in under 
estimated cost, and he thanked the U.S. for its support. 
Bauta indicated that while the Legal Network meeting 
introduced legal experts from all regions, the TS did not 
have the resources to do the follow-up needed to oversee the 
website, steer the efforts of the legal volunteers, comment 
on draft legislation submitted to the Office of the Legal 
Advisor (OLA), and assist in the preparation of 
presentations.  At the moment, Lisa Tabassi of OLA is 
overwhelmed by her day-to-day responsibilities and is unable 
to devote the time needed to oversee this effort.  Bauta 
noted that a cost-free expert similar to that provided by the 
U.S. in Ron Nelson might provide the TS the stimulus needed 
to make the organization of legal volunteers a force able to 
make progress on the difficult issues of implementation 
facing many States Parties. 
 
3.  (U)  Separately, Del reps met with Magda Bauta Soles and 
Sergey Kisselev and solicited their views regarding the 
National Implementation Measures Action Plan.  They reported 
that the internal TS task force has been meeting regularly, 
preparing the report required for EC-36.  They also discussed 
their work on implementation, stating that their strategy is 
to first hold a general meeting for National Authorities 
followed by focused meetings on relevant issues for 
attendees' implementation.  Bauta reported that while this 
has been well received, she believes that the majority of 
States Parties who have yet to fully implement of the CWC 
will not have completed their implementation by the CSP-10 
deadline.  Issues preventing full implementation vary, but 
are primarily political and affected by competing priorities 
in countries whose resources are stretched thin.  When asked 
whether the CSP would be able to distinguish among those who 
have made a good faith effort from those who have not, Bauta 
replied that yes, that should not be a problem for delegates. 
 
4.  (U)  Bauta praised the U.S. provision of experts who have 
attended ISB's regional meetings, seminars, and workshops on 
national implementation.  She believes it is critical for the 
eventual success of the implementation effort for States 
Parties to send participants such as Edna Sidler and Kevin 
Farmer consistently to the regional meetings.  Development of 
personal ties is crucial to this effort.  Bauta also 
recommended that the TS consider devoting a staff person for 
a defined period of time to New York or capitols that have 
large contingents of diplomats.  By building personal 
relationships and selling the importance of the CWC, such 
individuals could significantly advance both the TS' national 
implementation and universality efforts. 
 
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Data Automation 
--------------- 
 
5. (U)  Del rep spoke with Greg Linden, chief of the 
Information Support Branch, regarding TS progress on data 
automation issues.  The demonstration of the initial 
CFTS/RDBMS integration occurred January 20-21, first to 
senior TS officials and then to TS personnel in the 
Verification and Declarations Branches.  Linden advised that 
the TS decided to first demonstrate the fledging Verification 
Information System (VIS) to TS users, to determine whether it 
meets future TS data receipt, manipulation and analysis 
requirements.  The demonstration was judged a success and 
follow-up user requirements have been given to the 
contractor.  Demonstrations for interested delegations are 
being considered for the April 2004 timeframe. 
 
6.  (U)  When asked about the TS paper announcing the VIS, 
Linden responded that it had been approved by senior TS 
officials, had been cleared by the TS editors, and was 
awaiting the DDG's signature.  Linden predicted that it would 
be available to delegations in late February and would 
include predicted milestones on availability to delegations. 
Linden said that the press of business would prohibit TS 
development of the CTFS until late 2004.  Instead, Linden has 
suggested to his senior TS managers that the CTFS be posted 
on the OPCW website circa March 2004 with accompanying 
fanfare, announcing its availability to interested 
delegations for submitting their October industry data 
declarations and requesting delegations' feedback on what 
works well and what needs adjusting.  Linden has yet to 
receive feedback on this idea from his management. 
 
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Article X 
--------- 
 
7.  (U)  In a February 10 lunch meeting requested by Hassan 
Mashhadi, TS Assistance and Protection Branch Director 
(Iran), discussion was centered on Article X related 
conferences and meetings.  Mashhadi provided a brief overview 
of TS coordination with NATO in light of TS participation in 
the recently concluded NATO PFP conference in Norway on 
January 29.  He also provided the report from that meeting 
(faxed to AC/CB).  TS plans for an ASSISTEX II exercise in 
late 2005 were discussed.  The Ukraine has offered to host 
the event, which Mashhadi hopes to make an OPCW/NATO PFP 
joint sponsored exercise.  Mashhadi also provided a copy of 
the WHO efforts in developing health-related information in 
the event of threat of use or actual use of chemical, 
biological, or radio-nuclear devices (faxed to AC/CB).  He 
highlighted that the WHO is devoting 6.2 million Euros over 
the next two years specifically to this project. 
 
8.  (U)  Request for Medical Experts:  Mashhadi discussed the 
recent call for Member States to nominate medical experts. 
He is setting up a working group to help increase the base of 
knowledge in the event of a request for assistance by a State 
Party under Article X.  He sees this working group as a way 
to facilitate interaction between relevant medical experts in 
Member States, familiarize medical personnel to the CWC, and 
create a pool of knowledge, which can be drawn on in need, 
similar to the Protection Network or Legal Experts working 
groups.  The group would meet roughly once or twice a year 
depending on what the group deemed most helpful. 
 
9.  (U)  Annual Protection Network Meeting in Vienna:  The 
Protection Network is meeting in Vienna on March 18-19.  This 
is an expert group comprised mainly of technical, hands-on 
related personnel from Member States.  Mashhadi stressed the 
desire to have a U.S. expert nominated for the network.  Del 
rep will attend the March meeting as an observer and report 
back to Washington on whether it would be useful to nominate 
a U.S. expert. 
 
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EC Efficiency 
------------- 
 
10.  (U)  EC Chairman Kubernat called a February 10 meeting 
to discuss an extensive list of proposals to increase the 
efficiency of the Executive Council sessions.  Delegations 
noted a number of steps that had already been taken by the 
TS, such as very early distribution of an annotated agenda 
 
SIPDIS 
for the March EC.  The Peruvian Ambassador suggested that the 
proposals that had a clear consensus be quickly approved and 
separated out so that delegations could focus discussion on 
the more contentious issues.  The German Ambassador commented 
that a number of the proposals fell within the authority of 
the Chairman, and could be instituted without further 
discussion.  The U.S. delegation emphasized that increased EC 
efficiency is a priority item for Washington for the first 
half of the year, and supported the suggestions of the 
Peruvian and German Ambassadors. 
 
11.  (U)  Virtually all delegations expressed support for the 
goal of the Chairman's paper and the meeting.  However, the 
meeting bogged down as the Chairman sought to proceed with 
item-by-item discussion.  Kubernat ended the session by 
informing participants that he would call another meeting for 
further deliberations.  While that may indeed occur before 
the next EC, WEOG delegations were subsequently informed that 
the Chairman intends to simply implement as many of the 
changes as possible that fall within his authority. 
12.  (U)  Javits sends. 
SOBEL