PLANNING MINISTER DE VIDO ON U.S.-ARGENTINE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 002795

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHA FOR A/S SHANNON, DAS DUDDY, DMCCARTHY
WHA/BSC FOR BARNES, FRIEDMAN, MOSS, BLAKENEY
NSC FOR JUAN ZARATE AND JOSE CARDENAS
USDOC FOR 4322/MAC/OLAC/PEACHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2016
TAGS: BEXP ECON EAIR PTER ETRD CIVAIR AR
SUBJECT: PLANNING MINISTER DE VIDO ON U.S.-ARGENTINE
RELATIONS, VENEZUELA, TERROR FINANCE, AND COMMERCIAL ISSUES

Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: Ambassador met with Minister of Planning
Julio De Vido to discuss a wide range of issues. Minister De
Vido, who is President Kirchner's top minister and one of his
closest advisors, asserted that U.S.-Argentine relations were
in a very good situation. De Vido said U.S.-Argentina
relations were only mentioned in passing during President
Chavez' dinner with Kirchner. He sharply differentiated
Argentina's policies from Venezuela's, highly praised A/S
Shannon's approach to the region and Argentina, expressed
concern about Bolivia and Nicaragua. De Vido weighed in
positively at the Ambassador's request on the new terrorism
finance law. He agreed to hold industry sector roundtables
with the Ambassador soon on the energy generation and
transmission and on air transportation. He also expressed
interest in the America's Competitiveness Forum. End summary.


2. (C) Chavez Visit and the U.S.:
On Monday, December 18, 2006, Ambassador Anthony Wayne met
with Minister of Planning Julio Miguel De Vido, the top
Minister in Argentina and one of President Kirchner's closest
advisors and operators. The meeting was scheduled at
Ambassador Wayne's request to discuss press reports about a
dinner between Presidents Kirchner and Chavez during which
President Kirchner reportedly gave Chavez a briefing on
U.S.-Argentine relations. The article purported that
President Kirchner had told President Chavez that he needed
to focus on improving relations with the United States prior
to the October 2007 elections and that part of that would
require him to characterize Argentina's bilateral relations
with Venezuela as more economically than politically
motivated. Minister De Vido said that the article was
totally mistaken. He pointed out that contrary to what was
said in the article, Carlos Zannini, Secretary for Legal and
Administrative Affairs in the Presidency, did not attend
because he was at a school event for his son. He also said
that the meeting focused on regional matters rather than
Argentine-U.S. relations.


3. (C) Minister De Vido said the December 7 dinner lasted
until 3:00 a.m. and included Presidents Kirchner and Chavez,
Venezuela's Minister of Energy, Argentine Chief of Cabinet
Alberto Fernandez, Argentine First Lady Senator Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner and himself. Among the topics of
discussed were the approaching Summit in Bolivia, the
upcoming MERCOSUR meeting in Brazil next January, Bolivia and
Ecuador. Bolivia was the main theme. The U.S. was mentioned
only briefly.


4. (C) Venezuela:
Following up on this regional theme, the Ambassador inquired
about Argentina's opinion about a number of regional issues.
De Vido said Argentina considers Venezuela to be an important
friend and neighbor, however the Kirchner government does not
share President Chavez' use of exaggeration and drama when
addressing his differences with the United States. He said
that Chavez tends to cross the line and talk more than he
should. De Vido said that Argentina was much more direct and
pragmatic in its dealings with others. Ambassador Wayne
highlighted the recent meeting between Venezuela's Foreign
Minister and U.S. Ambassador Brownfield as a sign that the
U.S. was willing and interested to work with all
democratically elected governments in the region, including
Chavez in Venezuela as well as Morales in Bolivia, Ortega in
Nicaragua and Correa in Ecuador.

Bolivia: De Vido said the GOA shares U.S. concerns about the
situation in Bolivia and does not want to see things
nose-dive to the point where widespread violence erupts
and/or regions begin to secede. Their greatest concern is
eastern Bolivia where the departments of Santa Cruz and
Tarija talk about breaking away from the rest of the country
because they are tired of having La Paz make the rules and
mistakes while they have to pay the bills. Minister De Vido
said that the U.S. decision to extend the Andean Trade
Preferences for another six months in Bolivia was a very good
gesture.

Ecuador: Minister De Vido said he had visited Quito just 3-4
months ago and that he was under the impression that
President Palacios was doing a good job of organizing an
orderly transition to what we now know will be President
Correa. Ambassador Wayne expressed U.S. hopes that President
Correa would govern from the center recognizing that he had
not been handed an overwhelming mandate and he was elected by
centrist voters.

Nicaragua: Minister De Vido indicated that newly-elected
Sandinista President Daniel Ortega was not highly regarded by
the Kirchner administration.

U.S.-MERCOSUR Relations: Minister De Vido said that as he
discussed with A/S Shannon the USG should focus on developing
a constructive trade agenda with MERCOSUR as a group now that
it appears that the FTAA is on the backburner for the time
being.


5. (SBU) Good Bilateral Relations: Minister De Vido
characterized the present as a "great moment" in
U.S.-Argentine bilateral relations. He said that Argentina
had articulated a clear anti-terrorism position and that it
does not have any major conflicts with any companies.
Minister De Vido lauded A/S WHA Tom Shannon's approach to
this region. He said that his respectful style based on
analysis was very positive in the region and had created a
better ambiance for dialogue. He specifically noted the
A/S's recent public comments in NYC. He said that within
Argentina, Ambassador Wayne's style was achieving the same
thing on the binational level.


6. (C) Terrorism Finance Law: Even though the Terrorism
Finance Law does not come under Minister De Vido's area of
responsibility, Ambassador Wayne took advantage of his role
as a top presidential advisor to emphasize the importance of
moving forward on this initiative before February. Minister
De Vido said that he would contact the President's Secretary
for Legal and Administrative Affairs Carlos Zannini to relay
the message. Later during the meeting, Minister De Vido
spoke with Zannini on the telephone and reiterated the
Ambassador's message. Mr. Zannini said that the draft
document was not complete and that there was a meeting
scheduled that afternoon to work on it. He told Minister De
Vido that as soon as it was complete he would call Ambassador
Wayne to go over the text and discuss it. Minister De Vido
said that fighting terrorism was a high priority of the GOA
given that Argentina, like the United States, has been a
victim of terrorism.


7. (SBU) Civil Aviation Visit to Washington: Ambassador
Wayne mentioned the recent visit that Secretary of
Transportation Jaime (under Minister De Vido) had made to
Washington to meet with U/S of Transportation Shane, FAA
Administrator Blakey and NTSB Chairman Rosenker. He noted
that both the FAA and ICAO had expressed a willingness to
provide the GOA with technical assistance as it transfers
responsibility for air traffic control from military to
civilian authorities.


8. (C) Concerns of U.S. Air Carriers: Ambassador Wayne
raised concerns expressed to him by both U.S. passenger and
cargo air carriers concerning the relatively high costs and
subpar services at Argentine airports compared with others in
the region. He also mentioned the U.S. airlines' concerns
about the continued special treatment accorded to Aerolineas
Argentinas in terms of fees charged at airports. Minister De
Vido said that the GOA was open to discussing these issues
with the airlines, but cautioned that there are a lot of
&myths8 on all sides of this issues. He said that the GOA
had considered a number of options, including the
re-nationalization of airport services and the recision of
the Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 concession, but that both of
those had been discarded. The GOA decided to continue to
work with AA2000 to try and address the concerns of the

airlines. He noted that AA2000 has a lot of ties with the
United States and that any discussions about improving the
situation should include AA2000 President Ernesto Gutierrez.
He said he felt progress could be made regarding the problems
of U.S. companies even if Argentina's Congress approves a new
agreement with AA2000 in the days ahead. (NB: The GOA will
soon be taking a substantial equity stake in AA2000 to cover
some of the company's outstanding debts to the GOA.)


9. (SBU) Industry Sector Roundtables: Following up on
Minister De Vido's offer during their first meeting a month
ago, Ambassador Wayne inquired as to the Minister's
availability to participate in lunches with U.S. firms in key
sectors of the economy. The Ambassador suggested that he
could host the first lunches in January to discuss Electric
Power Sector with U.S. generation, transmission, and
distribution firms and a second with air transport companies.
Minister De Vido said that he would like that and some
recent developments in the sectors would make such a meeting
very useful to him.


10. (SBU) Digital Television: The Ambassador thanked
Minister De Vido for his agreeing to host a meeting for
senior executives from the ATSC Forum companies for a
presentation and demonstration of the U.S. standard for
digital television. The meeting will be held on December 20.
Ambassador Wayne will accompany the delegation, along with
the South Korean Ambassador to Argentina.


11. (SBU) Americas Competitiveness Forum: Ambassador Wayne
told Minister De Vido that he would soon be receiving a
formal invitation to participate in the Americas
Competitiveness Forum that Secretary of Commerce Carlos
Gutierrez will be hosting in Atlanta June 11-13, 2007, and
expressed hope that he could. Minister De Vido commented
that he had met with Secretary Gutierrez last year and spoken
to him twice this year including recently on digital TV. He
seemed keenly interested in the forum.


12. (C) Comment: Minister De Vido was generous with his
time, frank in his comments and often expressed his view that
bilateral relations are passing through a good and opportune
time. The views he expressed on a number of bilateral
regional issues seemed to coincide with our own at least in
substance if not in style. End Comment.
WAYNE