This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Documents relating to EU-US trade talks (since July 2018)'.



Ref. Ares(2019)2527775 - 10/04/2019
Rusal 
Meeting date and place 
Meeting held on 16/10/2018 17:00 in Charlemagne 
Participating organisation(s) & representative(s) 
- - RUSAL  Participant, 
[Art 4.1(b)
- - RUSAL  Participant, Requester, 
Main issues discussed 
On 16 October 2018, DG Trade 
 E1, 
 E2) met with the
[Art 4.1(b)
[Art 4.1(b)
senior RUSAL representatives  
 (Board Member) and 
 (senior advisor). The purpose of the meeting was to
update us about the progress of their discussions with OFAC for delisting of both EN+ and Rusal.  
Mr. 
explained that the expert talks with OFAC have been virtually concluded and all the technical elements for the delisting are in
[Art 4.1(b)
place. The political clearance is however still pending. In terms of procedure, Rusal and EN+ have not yet received the ‘release agreement’
which has to be signed by them in order to trigger the procedures for delisting. The expectation of Rusal is that the US Treasury is likely to
send to Congress the notification for delisting only after the mid-term elections. The Congress will then have 30 days to object to the
decision of delisting which could be blocked only if the Senate and the House oppose it. If the intent of the administration is to finalise
delisting with the current Congress, the examination by Congress needs to be concluded by mid-December, when the mandate of the
current Congress expires. Therefore the window for the Treasury to send the notification to Congress is quite limited, in principle 8 -15
November. 
Mr. 
 further explained that the delisting proposal can be subject either to a silent procedure or a debate, which could be requested
[Art 4.1(b)
given the political context and the sensitivities of the US Congress vis-à-vis Russia. It could therefore be useful to prepare the ground for
such a debate by reaching out to relevant members of the Congress. As the delisting proposal is l kely to contain conditions mainly for
EN+, the Congress could be made aware that following the agreement reached by  [Art 4.1(b)  with OFAC regarding the new shareholder
configuration of EN+, Mr. [Art 4.1(b)  will not just lose the control of the company, but he will also suffer a very important financial loss. In
addition, the Congress has to be made aware of the impact of further delaying the delisting of EN+ and Rusal. The recent extension of the
GL for both companies until 12 December is intended to cover the period until the actual delisting takes place. However, as Rusal facilities
need a 30 days period to shut down, even if the delisting takes place by mid-December, a further extension of the license until mid-January
is needed in order to avoid the shut-down of the operations. The end-2018 contracting season is already lost for Rusal, as well as part of
the business for 2019. The Chinese and Indian companies are partially covering the missing supply. If delisted, Rusal could still provide
short term aluminium supplies in 2019.
[Art 4.1(a)]
 The key window for delisting will be in the ten days following the mid-term elections of 7 November. 
Directorate or unit 
TRADE E/1 
Internal participants 
TRADE  E/1 
@ec.europa.eu) 
Participant, 
TRADE  E/1 
@ec.europa.eu) 
Participant, Notetaker, 
[Art 4.1(b)
[Art 4.1(b)
TRADE  E/2 
@ec.europa.eu)  Participant, 
TRADE  E/2 
@ec.europa.eu) 
Participant, 
Author(s) of minutes 
[Art 4.1(b)
Validator and validation date 
[Art 4.1(b)  validated the minutes on 24/01/2019 19:08 
Minutes generated by EMT (Id:TRADE/618)
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