US embassy cable - 03AMMAN268

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 AMMAN 000268 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
PARIS PASS UNESCO OBSERVER AGGELER 
VIENNA FOR GOLDMAN 
STATE FOR NEA/RA LAWSON, NEA/ARN ZIADEH, OES/PCI PAYNE 
TEL AVIV FOR GUMBINER 
CAIRO FOR CRETZ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TSPL, TPHY, TBIO, KSCA, EAID, SENV, JO, MEPN 
SUBJECT: SESAME--A VIRTUAL REALITY 
 
 
(SBU) SUMMARY:  The most significant development of the 
January 5-6 SESAME Interim Council Meeting in Amman was the 
announcement that seven countries officially requested 
membership in the organization, thus meeting the statutory 
requirement for official establishment of the SESAME 
project.  King Abdullah and UNESCO DG Matsuura led a 
"virtual" groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the 
proposed synchrotron facility.   Member state contributions 
and finances continued to dominate the debate and remain a 
sticking point for forward progress and 
self-sustainability.  The hardest blow, though downplayed 
by SESAME Chair Schopper, was a less than favorable 
EU-commissioned review of SESAME and the EU's subsequent 
decision not to provide several million dollars in 
funding.  IAEA Deputy DG Burkart also made it clear that 
his organization would only provide occasional training 
opportunities and that SESAME's greatest challenge lies in 
identifying means to sustain itself.  Two Israeli 
representatives attended under heavy security but were not 
lightening rods for "political" remarks.  On the horizon, 
and something likely to stir debate within the SESAME 
community, is Libya's recent request for observer status. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------ 
A VIRTUAL GROUNDBREAKING 
------------------------ 
 
(SBU) The 9 th meeting of the International Interim Council 
of SESAME (Synchrotron Light for Experimental Science and 
Applications in the Middle East), convened in Amman January 
5-6, was a mixed bag of positive and discouraging 
developments.  On the bright side, SESAME Chairman Herwig 
Schopper had received in December a request from Egypt to 
officially become a member of the organization, bringing 
the total number of official member states to six and 
meeting the statutory requirement for the SESAME project to 
be officially launched.  The six are Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, 
Jordan, Palestinian Authority, and Turkey.  We also learned 
at the meeting that Israel had days earlier sent a 
"conditional" letter of membership, pending clarification 
of the contentious member contributions issue.  On the 
margins of the meeting, the Egyptian delegates proudly 
talked of how Egypt had "tipped the scales" and brought 
SESAME to fruition.  By the second day of the proceedings, 
and following the "groundbreaking" ceremony at which King 
Abdullah decorated Schopper and UNESCO DG Koichiro 
Matsuura, Schopper dropped the word "interim" from the 
council and declared SESAME officially established. 
Needless to say, the Jordanian government has yet to award 
the contract for the construction of the facility and 
digging will likely not begin for another several months. 
 
------------------------------- 
IN FOR A PENNY, IN FOR A POUND 
------------------------------- 
 
(SBU) Still dogging the project, however, is its ability to 
become self-sustaining.  With member states continuing to 
drag their feet on contributions, SESAME has few operating 
funds, let alone sufficient finances for necessary start up 
activities, such as upgrading the Bessy I synchrotron to 
the appropriate power and obtaining the necessary beamlines 
to conduct its work.  Despite the fact that annual 
contributions were set at a seemingly paltry $50,000 per 
member, it has not encouraged a rush to financially support 
SESAME.  In fact, UNESCO Director of Basic and Engineering 
Sciences and SESAME Secretary Maciej Nalecz announced at 
the meeting that only Greece and the United Arab Emirates 
are in good standing, vis-a-vis contributions, calling this 
development "disturbing."  The estimated 2003 budget is 
only $100,000 larger than 2002, coming in at $710,000.  One 
of the Israeli participants confided to us that, although 
SESAME leadership optimistically believes $3-5 million is 
necessary for annual operating costs, other experts in 
synchrotron light science agree that the figure is closer 
to $10-15 million. 
 
(SBU) Nalecz spoke passionately of the importance of making 
SESAME financially independent.  He urged member states to 
make their contributions in a timely manner and to become 
stakeholders in the project.  Self-sustainability is vital 
to SESAME's identity, Nalecz added.  He also underscored 
that UNESCO would play the role of catalyst, and should not 
be viewed as an administrator or financier of SESAME. 
UNESCO has "no budget associated with SESAME."  "We want to 
make very clear UNESCO will assist with networking and help 
with fellowships and training," Nalecz committed.  Schopper 
chimed in with an appeal to observer states, singling out 
the U.S., to continue their financial support of SESAME. 
 
(SBU) Throughout the two-day meeting, and as in previous 
years, debate surrounded the question of how to determine 
member states' financial contributions.  Some favored 
basing annual contributions on a UN-type scale; others yet 
expressed their desire to revisit systems based on GDP, per 
capita GDP, or user community (i.e. potential number of 
scientists in-country), or a combination thereof.  At the 
end of the day, it became increasingly clear that whatever 
system is chosen it would need to identify some upper 
limit; otherwise, all member states would be reluctant to 
make such an open-ended financial commitment to SESAME, 
fearing a spiraling of start-up and operating costs over 
the years. 
 
--------------------- 
EU FUNDING NIXED 
--------------------- 
 
(SBU) The most crushing recent blow to SESAME was the 
announcement at the meeting that the EU, long expected to 
pony up about $8 million to the project, had concluded 
through a techno-economic feasibility study of SESAME, 
commissioned by the EU, not to provide funding.  Anthony 
Cary, Chef de Cabinet of Commissioner Patten, wrote 
Schopper on October 22, "In view of the substantial 
clarifications and revisions needed, and in the absence of 
firm commitments of the members of SESAME, I regret to 
inform you that at this stage the Commission is not in a 
position to provide Community funding for SESAME."  "The 
final report makes a number of recommendations for 
improving of the scientific and technical analysis, for 
revising estimates of the likely start-up and running costs 
of SESAME, and for more rigorous scientific and 
administrative management of the project," Cary added.  The 
EU, which normally sends an observer delegate to SESAME, 
was conspicuously absent from this meeting. 
 
(SBU) Schopper, eager to downplay the EU decision and to 
paint as promising a future picture as possible, 
continuously expressed his view that the door to EU money 
remained open, pending SESAME meeting the "conditions" 
outlined in the evaluation.  He called the evaluation "in 
principle, a very positive recommendation," adding that he 
didn't think the review panel fully understood the 
political goals of SESAME.  During remarks given at the 
"groundbreaking," Schopper's persistent hope of securing EU 
money raised no small number of eyebrows among the 
assembled SESAME participants.  These individuals were 
decidedly less optimistic, not publicly airing their views 
but sharing their concerns with one another in discussions 
on the margins. 
 
---------------------------------- 
IAEA DAMPENS SESAME HOPES ALSO 
---------------------------------- 
 
(SBU) IAEA Deputy DG Burkart delivered a sobering wakeup 
call to SESAME participants when he, on the one hand, 
offered his agency's moral support and congratulations on 
the official establishment of SESAME, but clarified that 
the IAEA was "not into basic research" and counseled the 
SESAME Council to make the project self-sustaining. 
Burkart offered IAEA as an institution that would continue 
to help by contributing to training of SESAME staff; 
however, general funding for the project was not in the 
offing. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
TRAINEES MIA--A BIRD IN THE HAND . . . 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
(SBU) Yet another disappointment was the report of the 
Training Committee, during which the assembled SESAME 
participants learned that of the 21 individuals identified 
for staff positions at the new facility, and who had been 
sent to various synchrotron facilities worldwide for 
training, only five remain.  The rest have jumped ship and 
have been absorbed into existing synchrotron communities. 
Addressing the retention problem, the Iranian delegate (and 
Training Committee Chair) intimated that the lack of a 
clear future and timeline for SESAME probably contributed 
to these trainees accepting positions with other facilities 
and academic institutions.  Twelve U.S.-bound trainees were 
among the SESAME prospective employees who bolted. 
 
------------------- 
ISRAELIS WELCOMED 
------------------- 
 
(SBU) On a positive note, the two Israeli representatives 
made it to this meeting, albeit under heavy security 
provided by the Jordanian hosts.  They participated fully 
and were generally openly welcomed by their Arab 
counterparts at the SESAME proceedings.  When queried, one 
of the Israelis shared with us that they maintain excellent 
relations with most of the other representatives, but added 
that the Egyptian delegation could be difficult and cold. 
He further confided, "Some of our best collaboration is 
with the Palestinians and Iranians." 
 
(SBU) Talking of Schopper's December visit to Israel, 
during which he addressed a distinguished gathering of the 
country's leading scientists in all fields on SESAME, the 
Israeli delegate said that there was significant opposition 
to the project.  When Schopper attempted to defend SESAME 
by claiming the scientific research associated with it was 
strictly for peaceful purposes, he was challenged about the 
wisdom of building Arab capacity in a field that could have 
dual-uses.  Specifically, the Israeli representative told 
us that several leading Israeli scientists charged that 
SESAME was "educating the next generation of terrorists." 
 
---------------------- 
IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS 
---------------------- 
 
(SBU) Stanford University's Herman Winick reported that his 
institution is dismantling a synchrotron and equipment from 
that machine on the order of $1 million will be available 
for SESAME.  He is working to secure the necessary export 
licenses from Departments of Energy and Commerce, but 
sought assistance with shipping costs.  A possible solution 
that was discussed would be to take some of the $50,000 
contribution from DOE, scheduled for April 2003, and 
negotiate language to use some of these funds to ship the 
component from Stanford to Jordan. 
 
(SBU) According to Schopper, the American Physical Society 
was to approach DOE to solicit a financial contribution for 
the beamlines; however, this was apparently dependent upon 
a positive outcome of the EU evaluation and the formal 
establishment of SESAME, which was announced on January 6. 
It is now unclear if DOE would be willing to help fund the 
beamlines, as the EU review prompted a negative response 
from Brussels to assist SESAME. 
 
(SBU) The French observer announced that France is closing 
down a synchrotron facility in Paris in the immediate 
future, and that surplus equipment--especially 
beamlines--would likely be available for SESAME.  He 
counseled that SESAME should immediately identify the 
equipment it needs and petition the French government. 
 
(SBU) Brazil offered three fellowships, one each to the 
Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Israel, for scientists 
to spend a year at the Brazilian light source. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
COMMENT:  NOT AS EASY AS "OPEN SESAME" 
---------------------------------------- 
 
(SBU) The SESAME project has a long and uphill road to 
conquer before it becomes a viable, self-sustaining entity, 
and a regional "center of excellence."  Simply breaking 
ground on the new building, and even garnering the 
necessary six members to formally initiate the project, 
does not a regional synchrotron facility make.  Overcoming 
the financial obstacles (both start-up as well as running 
costs), building and training the staff, defining the users 
community, soliciting scientific proposals for SESAME, all 
add up to a heavy workload.  In Schopper's own words, "the 
preparatory tasks seem modest compared with the challenges 
ahead." 
 
GNEHM