JORDAN: CHARGE REVIEWS BILATERAL ISSUES WITH FM

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 004657 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2015 TAGS: PGOV PREL CASC IZ IS JO NNPT SUBJECT: JORDAN: CHARGE REVIEWS BILATERAL ISSUES WITH FM QASRAWI REF: A. AMMAN 4203 ¶B. AMMAN 4075 ¶C. AMMAN 4303 Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Charge reviewed a number of bilateral issues with Foreign Minister Qasrawi during a meeting on June 8. Head of the Americas Desk Nabih Shuqom and Walid Obeidat from the FM's private office also attended the meeting. Highlights of the meeting follow: ¶2. (C) U.S.-EU Iraq donors conference: Qasrawi confirmed to Charge that he will attend the conference in Brussels (ref A). He told Charge he plans to mention Jordan's police training program for Iraq and announce the assignment of a Jordanian ambassador to Baghdad. Qasrawi said he has had two discussions with the King on candidates for the slot, but acknowledged they are not easy to find. ¶3. (C) On a related matter, Qasrawi noted that the draft communique for the Brussels conference refers to the next donors' conference, which is planned for July in Jordan. Qasrawi told Charge that there are no plans to postpone the July donors event, despite rumors to that effect in Amman and Baghdad. Qasrawi sought assurances (which the Charge provided) of continued U.S. support for Jordan's hosting of the event. Qasrawi told Charge that Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari recently reaffirmed Iraqi support as well. ¶4. (C) Proliferation Security Initiative: Ambassador Shuqom said the MFA was still consulting internally about the PSI but that "five of seven agencies" had registered objections to the initiative, including in connection with concerns about "sovereignty" and the "law of the sea" (refs B and C). He did not provide details, but Charge offered to address methodically any specific GOJ concerns. They agreed to discuss this matter as soon as the GOJ has developed a response. ¶5. (C) Consular Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): Qasrawi confirmed that the GOJ had reached agreement internally on a MOU text which amends our draft to provide references to Jordanian law. He said that if we agree with the text, the next step will be forwarding the draft to the cabinet. Qasrawi said the Ministry will convey the amended draft to post by diplomatic note soon. ¶6. (C) Article 98: Qasrawi reaffirmed that the government, once confirmed, would submit the Article 98 agreement to Parliament for ratification. However, because of the difficult political environment facing the cabinet in the parliament, he did not expect it to happen until the ordinary session convenes this fall. ¶7. (C) Jerusalem: Underscoring Jordan's continued obligations concerning the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, Qasrawi said there was a cabinet discussion during the evening of June 7 about recent Israeli "provocations" at al-Aqsa mosque. The Jordanians fear that Jewish extremists might provoke an incident that could damage Jordanian-Israeli relations. Qasrawi asked for unspecified U.S. assistance in calming tensions there. In response to Charge's question, Qasrawi said there is no plan for a Shalom visit to Jordan. ¶8. (C) UNSC Expansion: Noting the numerous demarches being delivered to him on this issue, Qasrawi asked for our position, which Charge provided, with a promise to deliver more details in the coming days. Please visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at http://www.state.sgov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through the Department of State's SIPRNET home page. HALE