Cablegate: Chemical Weapons Convention (Cwc): Indonesia

VZCZCXRO4293
PP RUEHDE RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1475/01 2581047
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151047Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0090
INFO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0215
RUEHAN/AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO PRIORITY 0001
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 7328
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 3644
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 9928
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0902
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA PRIORITY 0069
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 0471
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 0432
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 0120
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR PRIORITY 2107
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA PRIORITY 2900
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI PRIORITY 0165
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1214
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH PRIORITY 0463
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY PRIORITY 3219
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON PRIORITY 0385
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 0436
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA PRIORITY 0028
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 3753
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE PRIORITY 5471
RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA PRIORITY 0079
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 3256
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0019
RUEHVN/AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE PRIORITY 0288
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI PRIORITY 0017

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 011475

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, SCA, SA, AF; THE HAGUE FOR CWC DEL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PARM PTER PHUM AMGT ASEC CWC SA AF MV
RS, EAP, NEA
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): INDONESIA
HOSTS FOURTH CWC REGIONAL MEETING OF STATES PARTIES IN ASIA

1. (U) The Fourth Regional Meeting of CWC States Parties in
Asia met in Jakarta, Indonesia from September 5-7, 2006. The
meeting was attended by 24 States Parties from the Asian
Group: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Laos, Malaysia,
Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, the Philippines, Qatar, Republic of
Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab
Emirates, Vietnam and Yemen. Three States Parties from other
regional groups participated: Albania, Australia and the U.S.
One State Not Party, Burma, and the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) participated as observers.

2. (U) The opening remarks were delivered by OPCW Director
General Rogelio Pfirter and Indonesian Minister of Foreign
Affairs Dr. N. Hassan Wirajuda. DG Pfirter emphasized that
the diverse technical assistance programs offered by the
European Union, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the U.S.
continue to generate progress among the Asian member States.
Overall, the DG noted, 94 percent of the 179 member States
had established a national authority; 106 member States had
draft legislation at various states of processing in their
countries; but only 38 percent had comprehensive legislation.
He emphasized that 36 Asian member States had draft
legislation and he encouraged them to re-double their efforts
to enact this legislation. He welcomed the recent
announcement that Bhutan and Nauru had designated a national
authority, but noted that 4 Asian States Parties had yet to
do so.

3. (U) Wirajuda stated that the greatest threat today was the
potential for terrorists or international crime syndicates to
gain possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He
emphasized that perpetrators like the Bali bombers must never
be allowed to possess WMD. He stressed the importance of
continued technical assistance to enable member States to
enhance their national capacity. He emphasized the
importance of strictly controlling the trans-boundary
movement of chemicals without hampering the development of
the peaceful application of dual-use substances. He
acknowledged that Indonesia had established a temporary
national authority and would soon submit its draft
implementing legislation to the National Assembly. Once the
legislation is enacted, the national authority would become
permanent. However, he stressed, this situation had not
precluded Indonesia from submitting industry declarations and
receiving four OPCW industry inspections to date, none of
which had found any violations.

4. (U) The three-day workshop included briefings by the OPCW
on the status of implementation, implementation support
(requests and offers of assistance), the status of issues
pending in the industry cluster, the legal framework for CWC
transfer controls and enforcement, and developing synergies
between the harmonized code and the chemical abstract system.
Presentations by the National Authority officials of the
Asian Group member States covered the status of national
implementation in their country, and panel discussions were
held on the role of customs authorities in implementing
import and export provisions of the CWC in Asia.

JAKARTA 00011475 002 OF 002

5. (U) The U.S. delegation presented its experiences in
providing technical assistance visits to States Parties
spanning four of the five regional groups, but specifically
focusing on its outreach in Asia in 2006. The U.S.
delegation reiterated its offer of technical assistance to
States Parties in fulfilling their Article VII obligations
and to States not Party in acceding or ratifying the treaty.

6. (SBU) There were several particularly noteworthy points:

-- Burma was the only State not Party in attendance. A
Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official delivered a
national statement to inform the group that discussions on
joining the CWC were occurring at the national level. All
relevant ministries had agreed to Burma joining the CWC and
formal agreement could occur soon, its representative said.

-- Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen requested a
U.S. technical assistance visit. The U.S. delegation agreed
to coordinate these visits.

-- Qatar offered to host the Fifth CWC Regional Meeting of
States Parties in Asia in 2007.

7. (U) This message was drafted by USDEL to the conference.
HEFFERN

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