CZECHS OPPOSE CUBAN ILO CANDIDACY, SUPPORT LEANER

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000813 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NCE, WHA/CCA, WHA/CAR AND IO/T E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB CU ILO BB EZ SUBJECT: CZECHS OPPOSE CUBAN ILO CANDIDACY, SUPPORT LEANER BUDGET REF: A. STATE 94818 ¶B. STATE 94764 ¶1. We raised the points contained reftels with Olga Rozsivalova, head of the ILO department in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, who will attend the ILO Labor Conference May 31-June 16 in Geneva as the Czech Republic's representative. ¶2. Regarding Cuba's and Barbados's candidacies for the ILO Governing Body (ref A),Rozcivalova said that she had consulted the issue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and agreed with the MFA that the Czech Republic would support Barbados if asked to vote on the matter. The Czech position is consistent with its support for democracy in Cuba in other international fora. ¶3. Regarding adding restraint to the ILO budget (ref B), Rozcivalova said that the Czech Republic supports budget cuts, but not at the expense of actual regional programs. She said that zero nominal growth in the ILO budget, a goal the Czech Republic supports, will inevitably require some cuts in non-program expenditures. CABANISS