DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON DRAFT CONFERENCE STATEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002035 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA, EUR/ERA - BISHARAT AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV EIND IZ AU EUN SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON DRAFT CONFERENCE STATEMENT FOR IRAQ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN BRUSSELS REF: A. (A) STATE 112917 ¶B. (B) VIENNA 1886 AND PREVIOUS ¶C. (C) STATE 111894 Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Gregory E. Phillips. Reaso ns: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) EconPolCouns delivered ref (a) demarche on June 17 to Ralph Scheide, the Austrian Foreign Ministry's assistant secretary-level Director for the Middle East and Africa. SIPDIS ¶2. (C) Scheide took note of the U.S. position that the Iraq conference statement should include the phrase, "including by the EU and its member states, the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates." He said he understood this would be the subject of discussion on June 17, and he would be present at that meeting. He said that Austria, a non-NATO country, would not be in the position of demandeur for the inclusion of a reference to NATO. However, Austria would not object to such a reference, and would join a consensus in favor of including this language if this emerged from the meeting. ¶3. (SBU) Septel reports Scheide's description of Austria's role at the conference, especially as regards ref (c) suggestions for tangible support. Brown