VENUE FOR 2008 NATO SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L LISBON 002361 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2016 TAGS: PO PREL MARR SUBJECT: VENUE FOR 2008 NATO SUMMIT REF: SECSTATE 175933 Classified By: DCM Adrienne O'Neal for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) DCM Adrienne O'Neal contacted the Foreign Minister's Chief of Cabinet Francisco Ribeiro de Menezes per reftel to inform him that, although the U.S. appreciates Portugal's interest in hosting the NATO summit and that Lisbon is an attractive option for a NATO summit overall, that the U.S. will be supporting Bucharest's bid to host in 2008. She noted that Bucharest is a symbolically more compelling location and related President Bush's call to enlarge the organization. O'Neal stressed that we were letting Portugal know in advance of the announcement to other Allies as a courtesy and that we regret not being able to support Portugal's bid. ¶2. (SBU) Ribeiro de Menezes replied that he appreciated the special courtesy of advance notice. He reported that Portugal had made a bid on the 2007 summit and withdrawn early with hopes of hosting in 2008. Although Portugal understands the symbolism of hosting summits in new NATO member states, Ribeiro de Menezes argued that such a consideration had been accomplished already with the Riga Summit. Lastly, he inquired about the timing on notifying other allies and was informed that the announcement would be public soon. Ribeiro de Menezes said he would follow up if Portugal had further comment. ¶3. (C) Comment: Our decision and announcement clearly took Ribeiro de Menezes off-guard but the advance warning seems to have made the decision more palatable. End comment. Hoffman