Cablegate: Nuclear Suppliers Group: Austria Interested In

VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #1374 1441404
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 241404Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7400
INFO RUCNNSG/NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA IMMEDIATE 0384

UNCLAS VIENNA 001374

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/AGS (SAINT ANDRE) AND ISN/RA (NEPHEW)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNNP MNUC IR AU
SUBJECT: NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP: AUSTRIA INTERESTED IN
SHARING INFORMATION ON IRANIAN EXPORT DENIALS

REF: A) STATE 69315 AND B) STATE 69283

1. (U) On May 23, EconPolOff delivered points in reftels A
and B to Alexander Marschik, the Acting Director of the MFA's
Department of Arms Control, Disarmament, and
Non-Proliferation. Marschik attended the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) Plenary in April 2007, and is familiar with the
U.S. proposal on sharing export denial information on Iran
with the IAEA, the UN Security Council's Iran Sanctions
Committee, and other non-NSG states. Marschik said he has
been waiting to hear from the U.S. about the proposed
template for sharing this information and was interested in
what specific information the U.S. is seeking. EconPolOff
explained the U.S. would like states to share the name of the
item denied, the procurement agent, and the end-user at a
minimum, and would welcome any additional information.

2. (SBU) Marschik asked if the U.S. planned to host a
meeting outside of the NSG for the interested parties to
discuss the mechanics of sharing this information.
EconPolOff presented him with ref B's proposed agenda and
timeline for this meeting. The GoA plans to send
representatives. Marschik suggested that a representative
from IAEA also attend the meeting to clarify (1) who the IAEA
recipient of denial information will be and (2) how the IAEA
plans to use this information. Having an IAEA representative
present to answer these questions would further help the MFA
convince other federal ministries, reluctant business, and
the general public that sharing such information is important
and that the information will be used appropriately and
confidentially.

SIPDIS

3. (SBU) In theory, Marschik said that the Austria MFA
believes this type of information sharing on Iran would be
useful and help facilitate the implementation of UNSCR 1747.
However, Marschik again emphasized that the problem is
technical and lies in the details of the sharing. In his
view, it is not yet clear what the level of confidentiality
will be regarding the shared information. Furthermore, he
said it was unclear who in the IAEA would ultimately receive
the report from the U.S. containing this information or how
the IAEA would use this information.

4. (SBU) Marschik said he will be attending the June 5
meeting of CONOP, the EU Council's working group on nuclear
nonproliferation. He was certain that the U.S. information
sharing proposal would be on the CONOP agenda. Marschik said
that he thought the EU would probably develop a coordinated
policy on the issue. In any case, Marschik thought that the
EU Member States would arrive at the U.S.-sponsored seminar
better prepared to discuss the issue.

5. (U) Post would welcome any information from Washington
that we could share with Marschik regarding his above
questions about the level of confidentiality and usage by the
IAEA of this information.
McCaw

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