UAE ATTENDANCE AT INTERNATIONAL COMPACT WITH IRAQ

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000427 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/I, NEA/ARP, EEB/IFD/ODF TREASURY FOR IA VICKIE ALVO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN EINV PGOV PREL IZ AE SUBJECT: UAE ATTENDANCE AT INTERNATIONAL COMPACT WITH IRAQ (ICI) UN INTERIM MEETING ON MARCH 16 REF: SECSTATE 29448 ¶1. (SBU) On March 11, Embassy passed copy of letter from Deputy Treasury Secretary Kimmitt to UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdulla bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (AbZ) along with cover message from Ambassador urging UAE to send senior level participants to the UN Interim Meeting. Econchief contacted Ministry of Finance Assistant Under Secretary to make reftel points and to urge UAE to send a SIPDIS senior representative. Asst U/S Al-Bustani said that he had not been aware of the UN's invitation and suggested that Econchief contact the MFA, which would determine who should attend for the UAE. ¶2. (SBU) On March 12, Econchief contacted MFA senior America's desk officer Rowda Al-Otaiba. Al-Otaiba confirmed that the MFA had received the UN invitation and DepSec Kimmitt's letter. She said that AbZ's office had instructed the UAE Perm Rep in New York Ambassador Abdul Aziz Al-Shamsi to represent the country. On March 13, CDA followed up with MFA Acting U/S Tareq Al-Haidan to push the UAE to send a senior representative. Haidan took the message on board, but also stated that the Foreign Minister had designated Al-Shamsi as UAE,s representative at March 16 interim meeting. QUINN