MALIAT DEMARCHE RECEIVED POSITIVELY IN BAHRAIN

UNCLAS MANAMA 000319 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EB/TRA/AN:BMGRIMM AND LPFAUX-GABLE AND NEA/ARP:PHEFFERNAN AMMAN FOR JFLOWERS DOT FOR A/S BHATIA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR BA SUBJECT: MALIAT DEMARCHE RECEIVED POSITIVELY IN BAHRAIN REF: A. STATE 40155 ¶B. FEBRUARY 25 GRIMM E-MAIL ¶1. ECONOFF delivered reftel demarche and passed e-mailed MALIAT texts and tables March 9 to Bahrain's Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) Director of Air Transport Ahmed Nemat Ali and Air Transport Advisor Kamal Hefny Riyadh. By way of background, Nemat Ali told ECONOFF that Bahrain already has Open Skies agreements with Singapore and Brunei, but that when Bahrain approached New Zealand to propose an Open Skies agreement, New Zealand suggested that Bahrain join the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transport (MALIAT) instead. The message to join MALIAT was reinforced by his discussions with U.S. A/S for Aviation and International Affairs Karan Bhatia during the February Regional Summit on Aviation Safety and Security. ¶2. Nemat Ali said that Bahrain's CAA is very favorably disposed to joining MALIAT, since liberalization increases efficiency, and would carefully study the documents presented. Once CAA comes to a formal decision to join MALIAT, they will pass the documents to the Cabinet Ministry Legal Affairs Directorate for review. Nemat Ali further intends to propose to his BGC Beirut counterparts that Lebanon join MALIAT, too. If they agree, the two countries can together begin recruiting other Arab countries to join as well, Nemay Ali said. (NOTE: To facilitate approval and regional recruitment, ECONOFF subsequently forwarded documents electronically. END NOTE). ¶3. Director Nemat Ali told ECONOFF March 9 that the Bahraini delegation to the Regional Summit on Aviation Safety and Security in Amman in February found the summit so useful that Bahrain would like to host the next regional summit. FORD