UN SUMMIT OUTCOME DOUCMENT: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 003030

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP, EUR/PGI AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2015
TAGS: PREL AU UNGA
SUBJECT: UN SUMMIT OUTCOME DOUCMENT: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE

REF: STATE 163224

Classified By: ACTING ECONOMIC/POLITICAL COUNSELOR MICHAEL DETAR
REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Embassy Vienna carried out reftel demarche to MFA
A/S-equivalent (Acting) for International Organization
Affairs Dr. Helmut Boeck on September 7. Boeck said that the
Austrian delegation in New York had welcomed the evident
interest their U.S. counterparts had shown in having a true
give-and-take on the summit document. Still, Boeck said,
given the few days remaining until the High-Level Event (HLE)
begins, the time pressure was enormous. Boeck asked whether
the U.S. still envisioned the final document as a two or
three page political declaration. For his part, he hoped
that the negotiated result would be "sensible and
comprehensive."


2. (C) Boeck noted several areas of "affinities and
parallels" between U.S. and EU positions -- UN administrative
and personnel reforms, reform of the Human Rights Commission
and the creation of the Peacebuilding Commission. Other
areas, according to Boeck, are more contentious, such as the
International Criminal Court and Kyoto Protocol. In any
case, Boeck said, Austria views the UN as a critical
institution, the primary instrument of multilateralism.
Austria believes the HLE summit document should build on past
outcomes, including the Millennium Summit.
Brown