SLOVENIA: COM ENGAGES DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LJUBLJANA 000045 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NCE (SSADLE), USDOC FOR ITA/RUSNAK E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM ECON SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: COM ENGAGES DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER ON KEY BILATERAL ISSUES Classified By: COM Thomas B. Robertson for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: The new State Secretary (Deputy FM) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andrej Ster and the new Director of the MFA's Division of the Americas, Roman Kirn, impressed COM as responsive and well informed on several thorny bilateral issues. The importance of close cooperation between the Embassy and MFA in the run-up to Slovenia's EU Presidency was affirmed. Intensive engagement with the GoS on the soon to be published Human Rights and TIP reports seems to have had an effect as both Ster and Kirn expressed a philosophical understanding of the purpose of these reports. COM underscored the importance of resolving the Jewish restitution issue swiftly and fairly. Additionally, the importance of strengthening bilateral trade and investment ties and how our respective governments can promote these ties was discussed. End Summary. -------------- -------------- Maintaining and Open Line During the EU Presidency -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) DCM and PolEcon Chief joined COM in a lunch hosted for Andrej Ster, newly appointed State Secretary at the MFA (Deputy FM),Roman Kirn, most recently Slovenia's ambassador to the UN and now in charge of the Division for the Americas, and Mirko Cigler who previously held Kirn's new position and is on his way to Brussels to work at the Slovenian EU mission. All three guests were open, engaging and well briefed on the variety of multilateral and bilateral issues on which we regularly engage. It was generally acknowledged that the next 18 months would be more intense than usual and the MFA was committed to ensuring the US-EU dialogue on its watch would be open, informative and constructive. Roman Kirn will take the lead on managing the U.S.-EU dialogue from Ljubljana. To that end, it was agreed that regular communication and close coordination between the Embassy and the MFA would be an important feature of the behind-the-scenes work of Slovenia's EU Presidency. DCM urged Kirn to work with his government to set a date for the first 2008 Political Directors meeting and also promised to share a schedule of visitors Embassy Ljubljana would expect to host over the next 11 months. -------------- --- Human Rights Report - Awareness Raising Exercise -------------- --- 3.(C) Human rights issues and the preparation and publication of various annual reports were central to the lunch discussion. COM discussed both the Human Rights Report and the Trafficking in Persons report saying of the former that issues of Roma and "erased" would figure in it. COM continued that while the GoS is addressing both issues, it is also important for it to be clear about its plans and explain them to the public. On TIP, COM described how important the recent convictions of traffickers are to demonstrating the overall strong engagement of the GoS on this problem. Ster and Kirn both seemed to understand the nature of these reports and the reasons behind the USGs interest in what many consider to be internal issues. Kirn, after 4 years at the UN, said it best when he commented that "these reports are part of your democratic tradition, required by a Congress which approves U.S. assistance (to many countries),and they are not meant to harm, but to increase public awareness." -------------- -------------- Jewish Restitution - Quick and Fair the Best Approach -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Jewish restitution and the reconciliation of two reports currently being produced on this issue in Slovenia were also discussed. COM brought Ster and Kirn up to speed on the extent and nature of engagement on this problem between the GoS - primarily the Ministry of Justice - and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) He urged that once the WJRO funded report was completed the GoS would engage constructively with a view to resolving the issue fairly and rapidly. COM warned that if Slovenia were perceived to be "nickel and diming" a community that had suffered greatly during World War II, its reputation would be needlessly and seriously damaged. Ster agreed and reminded COM that one issue that was conceptually very important to keep in mind is the legal restriction on the current independent Slovenia to take responsibility for property expropriations that occurred before 1945. To change this LJUBLJANA 00000045 002 OF 002 fundamental aspect of law would require new legislation and, as a result, resolution of the Jewish property issues could never be "quick and fair" - a huge delay would ensue. The GoS very much wants to avoid going down a legislative/constitutional route because "bad things happened to many people, not just Jews." COM said that while he appreciated the complications the GoS was hoping to avoid, Jewish restitution could not be lumped in with expropriations of property and wealth suffered by Slovenes during Nazi occupation because Jews, as a people, had been identified and specifically targeted for obliteration. They are a special case. -------------- -------------- Commercial Ties Can Benefit From Government Engagement -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) COM raised one of the overarching themes of his tenure in Slovenia - how to increase trade and investment between Slovenia and the U.S. and challenged the Slovene guests to join him in the endeavor. When asked by PolEcon chief why the Prime Minister on his recent travels to Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait brought along a trade mission of over 50 people but did not do so when he traveled to the U.S., the answer was that since it was easy enough for Slovenes to go to the U.S. and make direct contact, there was no need for the GoS to actively assist. Ster and others were surprised to learn that not only do U.S. Embassies all over the world provide commercial services to assist businesses to make foreign connections - even in "easy" places such as Europe - but that we charge for these services. -------------- Comment - Good Partners in the MFA -------------- ¶6. (C) Both Ster and Kirn are seasoned diplomats with solid reputations. Both seem genuinely inclined to developing a strong line of communication with the Embassy to ensure our bilateral interests are not lost in the tsunami of Slovenia's EU Presidency. We will encourage Ster and Kirn to travel to Washington in the near future. We hope they would meet their counterparts and other key members of the USG involved in U.S.-Slovenia relations as well as larger global issues on which we will look to the EU Presidency for leadership. Post will continue pushing for progress and resolution of outstanding human rights issues. Kirn was taking notes during the discussion on economic ties and expressed an interest in trying to do more on this account. Now that the Slovenian Embassy in Washington has a diplomat dedicated full-time to economic and commercial issues, we hope, too, that the mutual benefits of increased trade will become more apparent to the Ljubljana leadership and that more active engagement in Washington will complement our efforts in Ljubljana. ROBERTSON