Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07DOHA1127
2007-12-03 13:46:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Doha
Cable title:  

GCC SUMMIT OPENS IN DOHA WITH LOW PUBLIC

Tags:  PREL EFIN GCC QA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2106
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK
DE RUEHDO #1127/01 3371346
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 031346Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7315
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 001127 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2017
TAGS: PREL EFIN GCC QA
SUBJECT: GCC SUMMIT OPENS IN DOHA WITH LOW PUBLIC
EXPECTATIONS...AND ATTENTION FOCUSED ON THE IRANIAN
PRESIDENT

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael A. Ratney,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 001127

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2017
TAGS: PREL EFIN GCC QA
SUBJECT: GCC SUMMIT OPENS IN DOHA WITH LOW PUBLIC
EXPECTATIONS...AND ATTENTION FOCUSED ON THE IRANIAN
PRESIDENT

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael A. Ratney,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit opened
December 3 in Doha with all six heads of state, plus Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in attendance. Though not on
the written agenda, Ahmedinejad delivered a largely
non-inflammatory speech that included a twelve-point proposal
to advance cooperation between Iran and the countries of the
GCC. He spoke sitting at a rostrum just to one side of the
six heads of state.


2. (SBU) Beginning by expressing his hope that God will
hasten the appearance of the missing Iman, Ahmedinejad spoke
of the need for peace based on justice without foreign
intervention, said Iran and the countries of the GCC have
common friends as well as common enemies, and emphasized that
they are all united by their faith and brotherhood. His
specific proposals included the following:

-- Lift the visa requirement to allow free movement by
Iranian citizens and allow Iranians to own property in GCC
countries;

-- Seek opportunities for joint investments, including the
petroleum sector;

-- Establish free trade zones;

-- Iran is prepared to provide water and gas to GCC countries;

-- Establish a "north-south corridor and facilitate
commercial links by rail and road;

-- Develop tourism in the region;

-- Develop stronger relations between Islamic countries and
poorer countries, including through establishment of a joint
fund for development. (In this way, he said, we would not
see injustices such as those inflicted on the Palestinian
people.);

-- Increase cooperation on security to ensure that the region
is free of tension and of intervention by foreign powers;

-- Expand educational and scientific exchanges and
cooperation;

-- Cooperate to safeguard the environment "in the Persian
Gulf and the Gulf of Oman."

(Note: the numbering of his proposals was muddled, perhaps
by the interpreter, leaving it unclear where one point ended
and the next one began. This may clarify if a written

version of Ahmedinejad's remarks is issued. End note.)


3. (SBU) Ahmedinejad closed with a call to make the Persian
Gulf a "gulf of peace," expressed his hope that this GCC
Summit is a starting point to open a new page of cooperation,
and issued a call to hold a joint meeting in Tehran to
discuss all aspects of Iran-GCC cooperation.

--------------
ALL EYES ON AHMEDINEJAD
--------------


4. (C) The head of the GCC Department at MFA, Youssef
Al-Jaber, told us December 2 that the invitation for the
Iranian president to attend as an observer (an invitation
also extended to the presidents of Egypt, Yemen and Turkey,
as well as the heads of the Arab League, Islamic Conference,
United Nations and European Union) was issued by Qatar
following consultations with the GCC Council. A former
member of the GCC Consultative Committee, Qatar University
Professor Abdulaziz Kamal added December 3 that the Iranian
President was invited with the official aim of lessening
tensions in the Gulf. Unofficially, said Kamal, the
invitation may have been extended to provide Iran an
opportunity to affirm that its nuclear program is purely for
peaceful purposes. In Kamal's view, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad would use the opportunity to encourage
the GCC states to join Iran in establishing a regional
nuclear consortium.


5. (C) The Turkish ambassador told Charge that the Turkish
prime minister, one of several regional leaders invited as
special guests, was told that no special guest would have a
speaking role. In the event, Ahmedinejad was the only
special invitee to accept the invitation and the only
participant at the opening ceremony besides the Amir of Qatar

DOHA 00001127 002 OF 002


with a speaking role.

--------------
GCC PUBLICS YEARN FOR CHANGES IN DAILY LIFE
--------------


6. (C) Based on his discussions with GCC officials, Kamal
predicted that the summit, outside of the Iranian issue,
would focus on economic, cultural, and educational matters.
Asked if creation of a common GCC currency or a change in the
dollar peg for existing GCC currencies was on the agenda, he
reported that the GCC Foreign Ministers did not include this
topic. Kamal noted, however, that currency issues could
nonetheless come up during the discussions among the heads of
state. In Kamal's view, the citizenry of GCC states had lost
trust in GCC summits as a mechanism to improve their daily
lives.


7. (SBU) A sampling by Al-Jazeera and Qatar national
television of public opinion in GCC states on the eve of this
28th GCC Summit depicted largely disillusioned publics. Of
the persons interviewed on the street, in what was not a
scientific survey, the majority expected little from this
summit. Most were pessimistic if not unenthusiastic,
complaining that whatever decisions the heads of states took
would likely not be implemented. Few of the individuals
interviewed expressed the concerns of the elites over the
Iranian nuclear program and whether Yemen would be extended
an invitation to join the GCC. Rather, they voiced the view
that this summit should focus on the (largely economic)
concerns of ordinary people:

-- Allowing GCC nationals to travel to other member
countries without passports;
-- Establishment of a single GCC market for goods and
services
-- Creation of a single currency
-- Further economic integration of the GCC states
-- Implementation of previous GCC decisions


8. (C) Comment: The attendance of Saudi King Abdullah, with
whom Qatar's Amir has long had strained relations, was a
diplomatic success for the host. The key question now is
what mileage Ahmedinejad gets out of his trip to Doha. Given
a sufficient platform to bolster his legitimacy as the first
Iranian leader to attend a GCC summit, any admonishment given
to him by heads of state in private will be as lost on GCC
publics as the unfulfilled promises of summits past.
RATNEY