Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ABUDHABI5038
2005-12-14 13:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:
ABU DHABI READYING FOR GCC SUMMIT, DEC. 18-19
how-tonull Diana T Fritz 08/27/2006 05:03:37 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results Cable Text: C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 05038 SIPDIS CXABU: ACTION: POL INFO: DAO USLO RSO PAO AMB DCM MEPI P/M ECON DISSEMINATION: POL CHARGE: PROG APPROVED: CDA:MRQUINN DRAFTED: POL:JFMAYBURY CLEARED: NONE VZCZCADI469 OO RUEHC RUEHZM RUEHDE RHEHNSC DE RUEHAD #5038 3481330 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 141330Z DEC 05 FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2761 INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 5638 RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
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).
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
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