MGLE01: ECONOMY AND TRADE MINISTER HADDAD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 002091

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE PASS USTR
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016
TAGS: ECON EINV ETRD KIPR LE
SUBJECT: MGLE01: ECONOMY AND TRADE MINISTER HADDAD
DISCUSSES TRADE AND IPR ISSUES

REF: A. A) BEIRUT 1392

B. B) BEIRUT 1824

Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman. Reason: Sections 1.4 (b) a
nd (d).


1. (C) Summary. On June 20, the Ambassador and
Econ/Commercial Officer met Minister of Economy and Trade
(MOET) Sami Haddad to discuss trade and intellectual property
rights (IPR) issues. The Ambassador told Haddad that he
would like to see a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement
(TIFA) signed during the Made in America trade fair in
September. But action rests with the MOET responding to the
draft that USTR had provided to Haddad. Haddad told the
Ambassador that the GOL had made progress on trade,
investment, and cable piracy, but more work needed to be done
on pharmaceutical IPR issues. Haddad will lead a delegation
of businessmen to the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum in Houston
June 27-29. Haddad was upbeat about progress on
WTO-accession issues and promised that a new Director General
(DG) at the MOET would be named soon. End Summary.

TIFA--MOVING FORWARD
--------------


2. (C) The Ambassador told Haddad that he wanted to
follow-up on earlier discussions that the GOL had in April
with Shaun Donnelly, the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative
(USTR) for Europe and the Middle East. The Ambassador said
that his goal, if it was possible, was a TIFA signing between
the GOL and USG during the Made in America trade fair
September 19-21. He told Haddad that the next step in the
TIFA process was for the GOL to convey to USTR its comments
of a draft TIFA proposal. The Ambassador then told Haddad
that the USG would use the opportunity of the GOL's draft
comments to help arrange for the timing of a future USTR
visit to talk about the TIFA. Haddad told the Ambassador
that the MOET's comments were ready, but they would need to
be vetted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the
Ministry of Finance before they could be sent to USTR. He
said the comments would be ready by Friday, June 23. (Note:
Indeed, the comments did arrive and are being provided to
USTR, the lead on the TIFA, separately. End note.)


3. (C) When the Ambassador asked Haddad about the TIFA
ratification process from the GOL's side, Haddad stated that
the Council of Ministers would need to pre-approve a TIFA
before it could be signed; after the signing, the Council of
Ministers would then approve the TIFA accord. Parliament
would follow with ratification of the accord. Questioning
the parliamentary action, the Ambassador noted that the
agreement was not a treaty, but Haddad was certain
parliamentary action would be required (although not for the
signing itself). When the Ambassador asked if he should
lobby the MFA on TIFA, Haddad told him that he should "feel
free" to raise the issue, but he did not foresee any domestic
opposition or anything else controversial about a TIFA.

CONCERN OVER GOL COMMITMENT
TO PHARMACEUTICAL IPR ISSUES
--------------


4. (C) Haddad told the Ambassador that he would be meeting
with the Minister of Health (MOH) on June 23 to discuss IPR
issues concerning pharmaceutical firms. The Ambassador
expressed concern that the GOL had not responded to a May 11
letter from the Ambassador, French Ambassador Emie, and EU
Representative Renauld outlining possible discussion topics
for the joint GOL-Embassy taskforce that PM Siniora proposed
on May 3 (RefA). Haddad told the Ambassador that progress
was being made at the MOET on TIFA, Motorola (NOTE: Motorola
is currently talking with the MOET about removing its name
from the Arab boycott list in Lebanon. END NOTE.),and cable
piracy, but he encouraged the Ambassador to lobby other parts
of the GOL to achieve progress on resolving pharmaceutical
IPR problems.

RECENT SUCCESS
ON CABLE PIRACY
--------------


5. (C) According to Haddad, major progress has been made in
recent days on cable piracy. The World Cup soccer tournament

BEIRUT 00002091 002 OF 002


in Germany has provided a platform for Telecommunications
Minister Hamadeh and Information Minister Aridi to talk about
regulating the cable sector and make sure all game broadcasts
conform to the Copyright Law. On June 5, Aridi announced
that television station ART, the exclusive broadcast rights
holder for the World Cup in Lebanon, agreed not to block
other cable operators from broadcasting soccer games in
return for USD 500,000 (RefB). The agreement forbids cable
operators from charging end-users additional fees.


6. (C) The GOL has also announced plans to regulate a cable
market of 650 operators who broadcast unauthorized domestic
and foreign terrestrial and satellite programming. The
ministers are currently working on taking a draft law to
Cabinet concerning cable piracy. The interim law would not
allow any cable operator into the marketplace if they did not
submit permits for re-transmission from the corporate rights
holders of the programming. When the Ambassador asked Haddad
who he should be lobbying with regards to cable piracy,
Haddad said the Ambassador should talk to Hamadeh, Aridi, and
PM Siniora.

HADDAD WILL BE
TRAVELING TO HOUSTON
--------------


7. (C) Haddad told the Ambassador that he would be
traveling to the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum June 27-29 with a
group of business leaders that would include Ghazi Koraytem,
President of the Beirut Chamber of Commerce; Richard Haykal,
Vice President of the American Lebanese Chamber of Commerce;
and Abdo Jeffi, Deputy Chairman of Audi-Saradar Bank. He
said that no other ministers would travel to Houston.

WTO ACCESSION LAWS
MOVING FORWARD
--------------


8. (C) Haddad said that progress was being made at moving
forward WTO accession legislation. The Law on Anti-dumping,
Countervailing, and Safeguard Measures has already cleared
Parliament and four other laws (the International Trade and
Licensing Law, the Law on Food Safety, the Law on Animal
Quarantine, and the Law on Plant Quarantine) are in various
stages of the parliamentary process. Haddad said that a
sixth Law on Standards, Technical Regulation, and Conformity
Assessment would need to be reworked because it was not well
prepared by the Ministry of Industry.


9. (C) Haddad told the Ambassador that consumer protection
issues are currently handled by three ministries--the MOET,
the MOH, and the Ministry of Tourism. Haddad would like to
see greater coordination among the ministries. He said that
in order to ensure consumer protection was adequately handled
he would need to hire additional employees and have a bigger
unit. He said that Lebanon has a long way to go before it
could have an agency similar to the Consumer Protection
Agency in the U.S. He said that the MOET is looking into
financial incentive schemes for civil servants who provide
information on consumer protection problems.

NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL SOON
--------------


10. (C) The MOET is almost ready to name a new DG,
according to Haddad. Two names have been submitted to the
Cabinet for approval--Alia Moubayed, who currently works at
the World Bank, and Ahmad Nasser, the Head of Enforcement and
Anti-Smuggling at Customs. Maintaining the confessional
status quo, both candidates are Shia (as was Fadi Makki, who
previously held the position). The process of hiring a new
DG has been delayed, according to Haddad, for two reasons:
(1) a member of the Civil Service Board must attend all of
the committee meetings to discuss a new DG and the scheduling
has been difficult, and (2) the need to balance confessions
in the hiring process.
FELTMAN