ICAO DEMARCHE DELIVERED

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000949 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ETRD KU SUBJECT: ICAO DEMARCHE DELIVERED REF: A. STATE 66380 ¶B. STATE 168200 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. On March 16, 2003, EconOff met with Fawaz Al-Farah, Deputy Director General of Aviation Safety and Air Transport at Kuwait's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA),and Mohammad Abdul Rahim, Chief of the International Relations Division at DGCA's Air Transport Department, to deliver reftel A points. Abdul Rahim and another Air Transport Department staff member to be determined are planning to represent the GOK at the ICAO Worldwide Air Transport Conference in Montreal, including the two-day preparatory seminar March 22-23. ¶2. Al-Farah said that the GOK had initially intended to send senior level officials to the conference, but decided instead on lower, technical level representation due to the situation in the region. Al-Farah added that Kuwait's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested that the Kuwaiti Embassy in Ottawa send its Ambassador or another senior level diplomat to represent the GOK at the Extraordinary Assembly session scheduled to convene immediately after the Transport Conference. ¶3. While Kuwait is not an Open Skies partner, Al-Farah said the GOK could support many of the USG positions on liberalization of air service rights. The Kuwaiti officials, however, would be attending the Montreal conference in largely in a "listen-and-learn" capacity. Al-Farah said once the situation in Kuwait settles, the GOK would be interested in reopening discussions on Open Skies. ¶4. COMMENT: Per reftel B, Post has engaged in Open Skies discussions with DGCA previously. The results of those discussions suggested the GOK does not fully understand the implications of Open Skies. We suggest appropriate USG officials seek out GOK officials to review past efforts in this regard in furtherance of Kuwait's "listen-and-learn" mission. JONES