ABU DHABI READYING FOR GCC SUMMIT, DEC. 18-19

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 005038 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/I AND S/I E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2010 TAGS: PREL GCC IZ AE SUBJECT: ABU DHABI READYING FOR GCC SUMMIT, DEC. 18-19 REF: STATE 224430 Classified By: CDA MARTIN R. QUINN, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) On December 14, Embassy delivered the "Secretary,s Oral Message to the GCC Foreign Ministers" to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed's Office in advance of the GCC Ministerial scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi a day before the opening of the December 18-19 GCC Summit. ¶2. (U) As preparations intensify for the Summit, UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued the following statement in support of the GCC: "The UAE is keen to back the Council's march in order to help member states coordinate and unify their stances and continue consultations at regional and international forums as an integrated organization taking care of its interests and those of its people." ¶3. (SBU) Our usual MFA and MinState for Foreign Affairs contacts were working full tilt to prepare the leadership for what we understand will be an ambitious agenda, although we do not have the precise details of the agenda or the six GCC members' delegations yet. According to press reports, the GCC's six leaders will discuss recommendations by GCC ministers of labor to limit foreigners' employment contracts to six years with the aim of preserving the long-term interests of Gulf states in maintaining a non-permanent force of expatriate labor. The Summit will also discuss all the political, military, security, and economic recommendations that have been submitted by various ministerial councils, according to a statement attributed to GCC SYG Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah. ¶4. (SBU) As for the UAE's capital city, Abu Dhabi, it is making last-minute preparations to host the GCC Summit at the seven-star Emirates Palace Hotel. Abu Dhabi had hoped to host the GCC Summit in December 2004, but the late UAE President Sheikh Zayed's fragile and deteriorating health in the months leading up to the Summit persuaded the leadership to allow the Kingdom of Bahrain to play host. As it turned out, Sheikh Zayed died in early November 2004. In contrast to last year, when the city was somber and in mourning over Sheikh Zayed's death, the city of Abu Dhabi is now aglow with lights, and motorists are discovering newly planted trees and flowers on boulevards leading to the Emirates Palace Hotel. ¶5. (U) The GCC Summit will get under way just as thousands of Iraqi expatriates living in the UAE and in neighboring Gulf countries complete three days of voting to elect representatives of Iraq's National Assembly. The UAE was one of 15 countries outside Iraq in which Iraqi expatriates were able to cast their votes. Iraqis were able to find fully staffed (and internationally monitored) polling places in Abu Dhabi and in Dubai. QUINN