CANADA HOPING FOR USG SUPPORT OF MARSAF 2006

UNCLAS OTTAWA 003450 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MASS MARR CA SUBJECT: CANADA HOPING FOR USG SUPPORT OF MARSAF 2006 ¶1. This is an action message. See para 3. ¶2. (SBU) In the margins of another meeting, Foreign Affairs' newly installed Deputy Director for Regional Security (IDR), Christine Cadieux, inquired whether USG planned to support the 2006 Middle East Maritime Safety Colloquium (MARSAF). A confidence- and security-building effort, MARSAF's primary function is to engage nations in the Middle East in discussions related to search and rescue operations and other maritime safety issues. Canada is a founding participant of the colloquium and continues to be active in convening the meetings, which have occurred almost annually (except for 2000, 2003 and 2005) since MARSAF's 1997 inception. ¶2. (SBU) Cadieux said that plans were afoot within the Canadian bureaucracy to approach the Jordanian government about hosting the next MARSAF in Amman, in October 2006. Alluding to USG's generous (USD 50,000) support for the 2004 colloquium, Cadieux said the GOC hoped that State Department funding would again be available for the 2006 meeting. ¶3. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST. Post requests Department's guidance for responding to Cadieux's query. END ACTION. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa DICKSON