Cablegate: Uk Initial Response: Promoting Support for Unscr

VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLO #2688 3361708
ZNY EEEEE ZZH
R 021708Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4144

UNCLAS E F T O LONDON 002688

NOFORN
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR TOM WUCHTE IN ISN/CPI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER AORC UNSC KPAO UK
SUBJECT: UK INITIAL RESPONSE: PROMOTING SUPPORT FOR UNSCR
1540 VOLUNTARY FUND

REF: SECSTATE 122725

1. (SBU/NF) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Philip Richards, Nuclear and Radiological Security Desk Officer at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), on December 2. Richards said he would closely review the Voluntary Fund explanation, objectives, and potential projects as left in non-papers by Poloff, per reftel. Richards also said he would discuss the Voluntary Fund with his supervisors, and would deliver feedback on the proposal either to Poloff or directly to 1540 Coordinator Tom Wuchte at an upcoming meeting in London.

2. (SBU/NF) Richards said he could offer initial feedback on the proposal. Richards said that the UK had a general wariness of trust funds and did not make a practice of encouraging their use in international fora. Richards admitted that the UK "stood alone" on this position, and attributed it to the UN oil for food scandal. Richards said that while trust funds were not looked upon kindly by HMG, there was "no hard and fast rule" against them, and "the merits of this particular fund would still be considered."

3. (SBU/NF) Richards also questioned whether the U.S. was "jumping the gun" with this proposal and said that the UK was still "keen on getting the 1540 Committee sorted out." Richards said that the UK hoped that if the Committee could be made to work better, that it could do the work that the Voluntary Fund was proposed to do. Richards said that the UK wanted to look at other ways to get the job done besides a voluntary fund, and said that the UK certainly did not want to set up a fund that would work in parallel with the Committee and do work that the Committee should be doing.

4. (SBU/NF) Richards also cited the "tight" fiscal position that the UK is in, and noted that a funding commitment for something like the proposed Voluntary Fund would be unlikely for at least the next few months. Richards noted that the UK was already funding the 1540 Committee through its contributions to the UN, and said that funding the proposed Voluntary Fund would be seen as additional funding on top of the UK's usual UN commitment. Richards said that such funding would be a "hard sell" within HMG. Visit London's Classified Website: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Susman

© Scoop Media