AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH FM TAIANA

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 002614 SIPDIS SIPDIS SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV AR SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH FM TAIANA REF: A. BUENOS AIRES 2581 ¶B. STATE 188244 ¶C. STATE 188226 Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador met on November 17 with Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana, primarily to discuss how the U.S. might be of assistance to the GoA in the next phases of the AMIA investigation (Reftel A reports this discussion.) However, the Ambassador took the opportunity to raise several other issues, including U.S. efforts to enlist China's support on key economic and trade issues in advance of Taiana's trade oriented visit the week of November 20 to China, the Emergency Special Session (ESS) of the UN General Assembly, and the prospect of sending Argentine peacekeeping trainers to the CENTAM PKO Institute in Coban, Guatemala. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador briefed Taiana on our efforts to enlist China's support through Secretary Paulson's Strategic Economic Dialogue. He noted our ongoing concern with IPR issues with China and Chinese subsidies to domestic production which made it difficult to sell manufactured products. The Ambassador said the U.S. would like to see the Chinese take a more active role in the Doha negotiations and suggested Taiana should encourage them to be more creative. He also suggested to Taiana that he stress to the Chinese the importance of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1718 on North Korea. Taiana thanked the Ambassador for the input and said the GoA was in agreement with our views on the Chinese role in Doha and the need for implementation of UNSCR ¶1718. ¶3. (C) The Ambassador raised the issue of the UN ESS taking place the same day. Drawing from the points in Reftel B, the Ambassador underscored our concern that the resolution under discussion was even more biased than the resolution the U.S. had vetoed in the Security Council. Taiana agreed that the initial resolution text brought before the ESS was not balanced but conceded the GoA was prepared to accept a revised version similar to the one vetoed in the Security Council. ¶4. (C) Finally, the Ambassador raised the prospect of Argentine instructors participating in peacekeeping training and supporting the development of a multinational peacekeeping battalion with the Conferencia de Fuerzas Armadas Centroamericanas (CFAC) as part of the Global Peace Operations Initiative (Reftel C). He noted the possibility of U.S. financial assistance for Argentine instructors to work at the peacekeeping training center in Coban, Guatemala. (Note: Embassy Milgroup has been working closely with SOUTHCOM and Argentine counterparts to arrange funding mechanisms for this effort. End Note.) Taiana underscored Argentina's commitment to engage in regional peacekeeping initiatives. WAYNE