US embassy cable - 04LJUBLJANA1125

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 001125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AND PM/WRA 
BELGRADE FOR I. CAMPBELL AND A. CARLSON (PODGORICA) 
PRISTINA FOR F. EVANS 
SARAJEVO FOR J. MOORE 
SKOPJE FOR T. ALLEN 
SOFIA FOR L. LOWDER 
TIRANA FOR N. ZHU 
ZAGREB FOR K. SELINGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PARM, KHDP, SI 
SUBJECT: INVITATION TO MINE ACTION CONFERENCE; LJUBLJANA, 
JAN 13-14, 2005 
 
1.  (U) INVITATION:  PM/WRA and Embassy Ljubljana would like 
to announce an upcoming Regional Mine Action Coordination 
(RMAC) Conference, scheduled to take place in Ljubljana on 
13-14 January 2005.  PM/WRA Senior Program Coordinator and 
Program Manager for Demining in the Balkans Murphey McCloy 
will attend.  Posts should send the officer with primary 
responsibility for the demining portfolio to this conference. 
 For posts with minimal mine action dealings, the officer 
handling SA/LW projects should attend.  PM/WRA has generously 
offered to fund transportation and lodging costs for one 
participant from each of the following posts to attend the 
conference: Belgrade, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, 
Sofia, Tirana, and Zagreb. 
 
2.  (U) PURPOSE:  For the first time since the creation of 
the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victim 
Assistance (ITF) in Slovenia in 1998, PM/WRA does not have a 
direct representative in the region.  This is a planned state 
of affairs that reflects the maturity of the U.S. program for 
providing mine action assistance in the Balkans.  With the 
recent departure of the Regional Mine Action Coordinator from 
his base in Konjic, Bosnia, PM/WRA sees this conference as an 
opportunity to gather Embassy Political and 
Political-Military Officers in the region in one place at one 
time to talk about ways to ensure the best communication 
possible as posts take on a more active role in ITF tendering 
processes and the oversight of SA/LW and mine action 
projects.  As most of you know already, the USG has donated 
over USD 72 million to the ITF for mine action projects since 
1998.  Your participation in the conference will help ensure 
that the coordination/cooperation mechanisms are in place to 
guarantee that the considerable USG funds for SA/LW and mine 
action projects in the region are put to good use. 
 
3.  (U) PROGRAM:  Day 1 will start with internal meetings at 
Embassy Ljubljana to discuss USG priorities in the region, 
communication with PM/WRA, the intersection of public 
diplomacy and mine action, and other topics of interest to 
the attendees.  Day 1 will continue in the afternoon with 
presentations about major U.S.-funded initiatives in the 
region, including the Mine Dog Detection Center in Bosnia and 
the Regional Center for Underwater Demining in Montenegro. 
Day 2 will focus on field trips to visit the ITF Headquarters 
in Ig, Slovenia, and the Institute for Rehabilitation of the 
Republic of Slovenia (IRRS), where mine victims have been 
rehabilitated.  A more detailed schedule will be sent to 
participants closer to the date of the conference.  If you 
would like to request certain topics to be addressed by a 
PM/WRA representative or have other suggestions to maximize 
the benefit gained by conference participants, please send 
your ideas to Pol-Miloff John Crosby at the address in para 
4, with a cc to Mr. McCloy at mccloym@state.gov. 
 
4.  (U) LOGISTICS:  Participants are requested to arrive by 
the evening of 12 January or early morning on 13 January to 
allow for two full conference days on Thursday and Friday, 
13-14 January.  As funding for participants' travel will be 
arranged from PM/WRA's "Experts Travel Fund" on deposit at 
the ITF, participants are requested to notify Pol-Miloff John 
Crosby (CrosbyJR@state.gov; 386-1-200-5534; IVG: 762-5534), 
ITF staffer Mojca Petrovcic (ljubljana@itf-fund.si; 
386-1-479-6580), and Mr. McCloy at the address in para 3 
about their intention to attend the Conference and their 
travel requests.  Posts are asked only to cover Meals and 
Incidentals expenses for conference participants.  Please 
confirm your attendance as soon as possible via email to 
Crosby, Petrovcic and McCloy, in addition to sending a front 
channel cable addressed to both Secstate (slugged for PM/WRA 
(M. McCloy)) and Ljubljana (slugged for Pol-Miloff J. Crosby). 
ROBERTSON 
 
 
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