MRS. MUBARAK AND ISRAELI FM LIVNI PLEDGE

UNCLAS CAIRO 003071 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR D, G, G/TIP, NEA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL KCRM EG SUBJECT: MRS. MUBARAK AND ISRAELI FM LIVNI PLEDGE COOPERATION ON TIP; YOUTH AND WOMENS' CONTACTS ¶1. (SBU) Israeli FM Livni delayed her departure from the WEF at Sharm el-Sheikh on May 21 in order to meet with Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak to discuss increasing Egyptian-Israeli cooperation on combating TIP. The meeting came at US suggestion to both sides after Livni had raised the TIP issue with Deputy Secretary Zoellick. The two sides invited Ambassador to join their meeting. The Egyptians declined to invite media coverage. (Livni had met twice earlier with President Mubarak -- once with several ministers from both sides, and a second time several hours later alone; she had met also with Gamal Mubarak.) ¶2. (SBU) Wearing the lapel pin exhorting in Arabic "Stop Human Trafficking Now" distributed by Mrs. Mubarak's anti-TIP public awareness campaign, FM Livni appealed for Egypt's support in securing the Israeli-Egyptian border against human smuggling. Mrs. Mubarak admitted that she had only recently begun to focus on the global issue, and asked for details of the problem regarding Sinai. FM Livni offered no specifics on the dimensions or nature of the problem, beyond mention that she thought some Russian women had entered Israeli illegally via Sinai. Israeli Ambassador Shalom Cohen pointed to some initial lower-level Israeli-Egyptian contacts to deal with the problem. Mrs. Mubarak pledged to look into the GoE's measures to cope with TIP via the Sinai, and to look for ways to step up cooperation with the GoI on this issue. ¶3. (SBU) FM Livni seized the occasion to ask Mrs. Mubarak's assistance in including Israeli participation in international conferences for women and youth on peace issues. Mrs. Mubarak agreed to support Israeli participation in such conferences, and pointed to the WEF youth and peace issues panel in which she had just participated, which had included Israeli and Palestinian women participants. RICCIARDONE