US embassy cable - 05CAIRO4120

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 004120 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2015 
TAGS: PARM, AORC, EG, OPCW, CBW, CWC 
SUBJECT: CWC:  EGYPT SENDING NON-GOVERNMENTAL 
REPRESENTATIVE TO CYPRUS REGIONAL WORKSHOP OF NON-STATE 
PARTIES 
 
REF: A. TEL AVIV 3198 
     B. STATE 94902 
 
Classified by Economic-Political Counselor John Desrocher for 
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (SBU)  Poloff discussed ref B demarche with MFA cabinet 
member responsible for disarmament Sherif Kamel, who reported 
back on May 31 that Egypt would not send a governmental 
representative to the OPCW regional workshop in Cyprus June 
13-15.  Although the GOE would not participate officially, he 
noted, Egypt remained very interested in the issues under 
discussion and was helping coordinate the participation of a 
member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs. 
 
2.  (C)  Kamel stated that Egypt's non-participation was "not 
an issue of lack of interest," but because, without 
resolution of regional WMD issues (i.e., issues related to 
Israel), the GOE was simply not able to sign the CWC and 
therefore chose not to participate directly in these 
discussions.  Reminded that Israel often took the opportunity 
to attend such conferences and that the dialogue/engagement 
itself had value, Kamel countered that Egypt proved its firm 
commitment to nonproliferation when it signed the NPT and 
hoped to make future significant WMD-related commitments 
"together" (with Israel). 
 
3.  (SBU)  Director of the MFA Office of Arms Control and 
Disarmament Adel Ibrahim told Poloff June 1 that the MFA had 
been approached by six or seven western missions with a 
similar demarche on the OPCW workshop. 
 
 
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GRAY