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