Cablegate: Poland's Agrees with Usg On Zimbabwe Chair of Csd

VZCZCXRO9620
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBW RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHWR #0529 1191134
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281134Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6371
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKW/AMCONSUL KRAKOW 2076
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1416

UNCLAS WARSAW 000529

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

IO/EDA FOR REBECCA WEBBER
OES/ENV FOR KERI HOLLAND

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC EAGR EAID ECON EUN PREL SENV
SUBJECT: POLAND'S AGREES WITH USG ON ZIMBABWE CHAIR OF CSD

REF: STATE 40180

1. (SBU) Econoff raised reftel points on Zimbabwe chairing
the Commission on Sustainable Development with Mariusz
Lewicki, Head of the Department of United Nations System and
Global Affairs in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Lewicki stated that Poland's thinking on the Zimbabwe
chairmanship was in line with the views contained in reftel.
He agreed that the commission's credibility suffers from the
current chairmanship, and that some action was appropriate.
However, he said that the composition of Poland's delegation
to CSD-16 had not yet been selected. He said he would notify
the embassy when a decision had been made on the rank of the
delegation head.

2. (SBU) Econoff also discussed reftel with Slawomir
Gurtowski, Assistant Director of the Department of Global
Environmental Problems and Climate Change in Poland's
Ministry of Environment. Gurtowski agreed that Zimbabwe was
not an appropriate choice to head the commission. He was
concerned, however, that sending a lower-ranking delegation
to CSD-16 might send a signal that the work of the commission
was not considered important. Moreover, he acknowledged that
the composition of the delegation would be determined by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and not by the Ministry of
Environment.
ASHE

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