CULTURAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION DEMARCHE

UNCLAS MADRID 001922

SIPDIS

STATE PASS IO/T (JCROWLEY)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD SCUL SP UNESCO
SUBJECT: CULTURAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION DEMARCHE

REF: STATE 089776


1. Summary: Spain supports the philosophy underpinning the
Cultural Diversity Convention, and there is a political
desire on the part of the GOS for the international community
to adopt the Convention. There does not appear much
willingness on the part of the GOS to revisit the Chair's
proposal for Article 20. Spain, France, and Brazil are
sponsoring a Madrid June 12-13 Ministerial-level conference
on the Convention. End Summary


2. Per reftel, Trade Policy Officer spoke on 5/18/05 with
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Subdirector General for Programs
and Cultural and Scientific Conventions Anunciada Fernandez
de Cordova y Alonso-Viguera and with Trade Ministry
Subdirector General for Services Jose Alberto Plaza Tejera.
On 5/19/05, Trade Policy Officer spoke with Culture Ministry
Director General for Cooperation and Cultural Communication
Carlos Alberdi Alonso re: the Convention.


3. Fernandez de Cordova from MFA conceded that the Chair's
draft for Article 20 was "vague and diffuse", but kept
insisting that the Convention was not a trade agreement. She
said it was a cultural agreement. She said this formulation
was acceptable to the EU's 25 members, and suggested that
this difficult to achieve EU consensus position would make it
difficult to modify further Article 20. She underscored that
there was a "political" desire on the part of the GOS to move
the Convention forward. The GOS is partly motivated by
domestic political considerations in that Spain's Autonomous
Regions (the equivalent of American states) are very
interested in cultural diversity issues.


4. Alberto Plaza Tejera from the Trade Ministry recognized
that the Convention had potentially deleterious trade
implications. He noted, for instance, that Spain's telecoms
industry was concerned (Spain's Telefonica has large
investments in Latin America) about what countries might be
able to justify in this sector citing the Convention. He
noted, however, the GOS desire to proceed with the
Convention. He claimed that the Chair's Article 20 draft was
the best officials interested in trade matters were able to
get. Tejera asked how adoption of the Convention in its
present form might have a chilling effect on the Doha
services talks.


5. Alberdi Alonso from Culture was, unlike his MFA colleague,
quite upfront about the fact that the Convention is a trade
treaty in the form of a Cultural Convention. He conceded
that representatives from the movie, music, and book
industries were interested in an international trade regime
that recognized that the cultural component of these
products/services merited special consideration. He argued
that the Convention as currently drafted was "balanced", and
that it would not be used for illegitimate protectionist
ends. Underscoring the GOS commitment to the Convention is
the fact that Spain, together with France and Brazil, are
convoking a Ministerial-level meeting on this topic in Madrid
on June 12-13. Alberdi was not sure how many Ministers would
attend, but he claimed that, so far, 20 Ministers and
Secretaries of State have confirmed their attendance.

SIPDIS

Comment
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6. Spain is clearly comfortable with the Convention as
currently drafted and is not likely to be helpful in amending
Article 20 to make it acceptable to the United States. As a
general matter, positing that this Convention could have
deleterious trade effects is not an argument that has much
resonance, even with trade policy oriented officials. Tejera
was clearly not convinced adoption of this Convention would
affect the Doha services talks in an important way. If the
USG were willing/able to explain in detail how adoption of
this Convention would undercut the Doha services talks, we
might get more traction with this argument.

NEALON