US embassy cable - 05PARIS176

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000176 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NP/FM - AMB GUHIN; DOE FOR OFFICE FISSILE MATERIAL 
DISPOSITION 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2014 
TAGS: FR, TRGY, MNUC, PARM, ENRG 
SUBJECT: PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION: RESPONSE TO FRENCH 
PROPOSALS ON DRAFT MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT - LETTER DELIVERED 
 
REF: SECSTATE 4595 
 
Classified By: EST COUNSELOR ROBERT W. DRY FOR REASONS 1.4 B, D 
 
1.  (SBU) On January 10, EST Counselor delivered Ambassador 
Guhin's letter and talking points contained reftel to 
Veronique Vouland, Deputy to Francois Richier, and Sebastien 
Jaunet, both in the Sub Directorate for Disarmament and 
Nuclear Non-Proliferation.  (Messrs. Dahan and Richier were 
both unavailable.)  In response, Vouland and Jaunet remarked 
that the French government also considered useful a meeting 
with the U.S. to discuss the French proposals and revisions 
to the draft Multilateral Agreement provided in response to 
U.S. concerns.  They related that a French internal meeting 
had been held earlier in the day to identify possible dates 
for such a meeting.  They felt that a meeting well before the 
February 2-3 MPDG discussions would better suit French needs. 
 Thus, they would prefer a meeting date either on January 21 
or early in the week of January 24.  (Although early in the 
week of January 24 was not one of the dates discussed in the 
French internal meeting, Vouland and Jaunet thought that date 
would be workable.)  They seemed indifferent whether the 
meeting took place in Washington or Paris.  Embassy 
recommends Washington agencies provide a proposal for meeting 
time and venue for either January 21 or a date early in the 
week of January 24. 
 
2.  (C)  Jaunet said that the French side also wanted to 
exchange views with the U.S. regarding 'Cost Group' issues at 
the bilateral.  He said that Ambassador Guhin had circulated 
a 'road-map letter' containing evaluation of program costs 
and that the Russian side had prepared a document on the same 
subject.  The French had found the Russian paper "not very 
encouraging."  Jaunet concluded by remarking that the 
plutonium disposition program was a key GOF priority which 
received high level attention and the GOF seeks to work 
closely with the U.S. on assuring its success.  At the same 
time, he said, there is not the same level of comfort with 
the Russian approach.  Thus, the French need to proceed 
cautiously to protect their technology. 
Leach