JORDAN ARGUES LIMITING REFORM DIALOGUE SCOPE COULD

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005395

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV SY IZ JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN ARGUES LIMITING REFORM DIALOGUE SCOPE COULD
DRAW IN EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIA


Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Muasher argued to
A/S Burns in separate meetings June 27 that the best way for
the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) initiative
to succeed is to draw in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The best
way to do this, the King and Muasher argued, is to view G-8
engagement with Arab countries as a subset of a wider effort,
and as a first step organize a Ministerial meeting of G-8
plus Arabs only in the fall. They argued strongly that this
was the best way to get a workable process off the ground.
Insisting on a wider geographic scope for an initial
Ministerial meeting would lead to a stalemate, and isolate
the smaller Arab states. END SUMMARY.

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KING: ENGAGE EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIA
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2. (C) NEA A/S Burns met with King Abdullah June 27 in at
his palace in Aqaba. Burns thanked the King for his
participation in the Sea Island summit and his support for
reform in the region. The King said that the Arab leaders at
the summit "felt much better" about U.S. reform efforts after
hearing President Bush discuss current thinking on the BMENA,
but that it was still critical that the U.S. more actively
engage both Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the subject. The King
noted that he had recently tried calling Egyptian President
Mubarak, but had been unable to reach him.

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MUASHER: LIMITING BMENA SCOPE IS KEY
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3. (S) Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher told A/S Burns and
the Ambassador June 27 that the participation of Egypt and
Saudi Arabia in the (BMENA) initiative was important to its
success. If you keep the regional reform effort focused on
Jordan, Bahrain, and Yemen, he continued, it will have less
legitimacy and will put great political pressure on those
governments. The best way to draw Egypt and Saudi Arabia
into the dialogue, Muasher argued, is to limit the
geographical scope of an initial BMENA Ministerial meeting to
Arab countries -- at least at the outset. "Get Egypt and
Saudi Arabia in the door, then make your move" to expand the
initiative. He argued that the G-8 can include whatever
countries it wants in the BMENA initiative, "but don't put
them all in the same room" at first.


4. (C) Muasher asked about the size of the U.S. financial
commitments behind the various proposals put forward at Sea
Island, especially the microfinance initiative which Jordan
has offered to lead. It is important for the G-8 to support
its proposals in a concrete way.

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PALACE OFFICIAL: REFORM NEEDS THE BIG ARAB STATES
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5. (S) In a separate meeting June 27, the Director of the
newly established Royal Palace Office of Policy Coordination,
Abdullah Woreikat, echoed Muasher's comments to PolCouns.
Woreikat said that King Abdullah was very pleased with the
Sea Island event, but felt that the reform effort would have
more weight and legitimacy in the region if other, larger
Arab states -- particularly Egypt and Saudi Arabia --
participated actively. The King, according to Woreikat, is
enthusiastic about the Forum for the Future, but fears that
Saudi Arabia and Egypt will not participate if it includes
non-Arab regional partners.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) Following the King's participation at Sea Island,
Jordan has a real stake in BMENA's success and in drawing in
larger and more influential Arab states. The Jordanians have
consistently argued that regional reform efforts will have
greater credibility in the Arab world if they do not appear
to be Western attacks on Islam and continue to believe firmly
that limiting the main BMENA participation to Arab states --
at least at the start -- offers the best chance of success.



7. (U) A/S Burns has cleared this message.

Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at

http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET
home page.
GNEHM