Cablegate: Romania Supports Bsec Environmental Initiative

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PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBM #1679 3061535
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021535Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5487
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 001679

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE PASS OES/PCI - LLEWIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SENV KCRM RO
SUBJECT: ROMANIA SUPPORTS BSEC ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE

REF: A. STATE 162288

B. 10/18/06 ROCKWELL - LEWIS EMAIL
C. BUCHAREST 730

1. Following Embassy,s delivery of reftel A demarche in
early October, Econoff and regional environmental hub officer
Sam Kotis met with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
BSEC coordinator, Florica Barbu on October 18. Barbu
delivered a dipnote formally stating Romania's support for
the U.S. initiative (text below). Barbu recommended that we
provide details of our proposal in order for BSEC to take it
up in a more serious way. He also suggested a procedural
strategy: that we submit a formal proposal to the BSEC
General Secretariat in Istanbul by means of a note verbale.
The member states passed a resolution in April at the
Bucharest Ministerial calling for increased observer state
participation (reftel C). Our proposal, coming on the heels
of this resolution, would be hard for any one country to
dismiss (i.e. Russia).

2. Barbu commented that the next BSEC country chair, Serbia,
may have resource issues in hosting a workshop. Serbia's
agenda as chair is light compared to its predecessors
(Romania and Russia). The country would likely be open to
outside initiative. Barbu mentioned that Serbia has
approached Romania about hosting one or more meetings due to
its resource constraints.

3. BEGIN TEXT OF DIPLOMATIC NOTE:

No. 5187

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania presents its
compliments to the Embassy of the United States of America in
Bucharest and with reference to the Verbal Note, dated 3
October 2006, has the honor to inform that Romania welcomes
the American initiative to launch, on the occasion of the
15-th Meeting of the BSEC Council of Ministers of Foreign
Affairs (Moscow, 1 November 2006), a project meant to enhance
the cooperation in the field of environmental protection.

Such a project, with a deadline of application of six
months, will be very useful for the BSEC Member States, as a
special input coming from an Observer State, and particularly
for the Republic of Serbia in its endeavor to assure a
successful Chairmanship of BSEC.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to confirm
its full support for the American initiative and will act,
during the Ministerial Meeting in Moscow, for the adoption of
a resolution favoring implementation of this project in the
framework of BSEC.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania avails
itself of this opportunity to renew to the Embassy of the
United States in Bucharest the assurances of its highest
consideration.

Bucharest, 17 October 2006

The Embassy of the Unites States of America
Bucharest

END TEXT

Taubman

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