SUGGESTIONS FOR AREAS OF FOCUSED COOPERATION IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 005053

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPKO KUNR USUN IN
SUBJECT: SUGGESTIONS FOR AREAS OF FOCUSED COOPERATION IN
THE UN WITH INDIA

REF: A. NEW DELHI 02916

B. STATE 141727

Classified By: POLCOUNS Ted Osius for reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary. In preparation for Assistant Secretary
Silverberg's November 30 meeting with Additional Secretary
K.C. Singh, Post would like to suggest several UN-related
issues ripe
for closer collaboration with the GOI. These
include peacekeeping, religious freedom, UN budget reform,
energy
security, maritime security, and global disaster relief. End
Summary.


2. (C) Ref B described the concept of selecting 2-3 UN issues
for future focused cooperation between the U.S. and India.
As Additional Secretary for International Organizations K.C.
Singh prepares to depart India for a trip to the U.S. which
includes a meeting with A/S Silverberg, Post offers the
following list of potential issues to consider. Post does
not consider this list to be all-inclusive. We merely offer
some ideas in the hope of stimulating the decision-making
process.


3. (C) Peacekeeping Operations: The U.S, as a UN Security
Council member and the largest contributor of UN funding,
and India, as one of the largest contributors of UN troops,
are natural allies in the global peacekeeping effort. The
USG and GOI have come together for seven annual bilateral
Peacekeeping Joint Working Groups (PKOJWG) to share
information and experiences and explore potential areas of
cooperation. The GOI maintains a superb international
training institution for peacekeeping, the Center for UN
Peacekeeping (CUNPK) in New Delhi, which has hosted
training events for UN peacekeepers from numerous other
countries. During the June 19 US-India PKOJWG, IO PDAS
James Warlick encouraged the GOI to consider closer
cooperation with the US-led Global Peacekeeping Operations
Initiative (GPOI),and the GOI confirmed that it will host
the joint GPOI/UN-created Senior Mission Leader Course
(SMLC) training event at the CUNPK in January 2008
(reftel). Should we choose this as an area for focused
cooperation, we could encourage a closer marriage between
GPOI, the UN, and India,s own peacekeeping training
programs. Additionally, we could partner with perhaps
Japan/Australia to merge the capabilities of developing India
with the resources of more developed countries. We could
also discuss synergies for potential peacekeeping operations.



4. (C) Religious Freedom: The USG and the GOI have voted in
concert on this issue in the past, and both the U.S. and
India are respected worldwide for their religious tolerance.
Particularly at this time, the U.S. post-9/11 and the second
largest Muslim country in the world (one well-known imam here
actually counts India as the largest Muslim country) share a
desire to find common ground between moderate Islam and
"Islamophobia." Perhaps building on the goals of the UN
Democracy Fund and the Community of Democracies, the U.S. and
India could collaborate on programs to bring greater
attention to issues of religious freedom, and greater
assistance to areas where such freedoms are constrained.


5. (C) UN Budget Reform: India has not been particularly
cooperative with the U.S. on reform/budgetary issues to this
point, actually being more in the G77 camp. However, MEA
contacts here hint that India, a member of the Advisory
Committee on Administrative and Budgetary questions (ACABQ),
is more willing to work with us on UN budget reform than in
the past. We could test this with little to lose, given past
practice, and a lot to gain should we find a new working
partner on budget issues. We could explore with officials
such as K.C. Singh areas of budget reform India would be
willing to work with us more closely on, and see if it is
truly ready to work more cooperatively with us.


6. (C) Energy Security/Climate Change: The US-led Asia
Pacific Partnership (APP) on climate change control is
garnering much positive support in India, and this effort
could be expanded, perhaps parallel to the APP, to include
energy security. Securing dependable sources of energy is a
high-priority issue for the GOI, and will only continue to
increase in urgency, parallel to its increasing GDP growth

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rate. At the same time, India carries a lot of credibility
with the developing world on issues of global climate change,
and is active in post-Kyoto Protocol considerations. Greater
cooperation with India on these two interrelated issues could
pay benefits beyond the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change and APP, to include closer collaboration in the
International Energy Agency and other global energy/climate
change fora. It is worth noting that while India and the US
have cooperated well on energy issues in the past, we will
need to consult closely with the GOI on climate change,
especially if we envision USG positions evolving that will
have implications for India and China.


7. (C) Maritime Security: Recent incidents of piracy off the
coast of Africa have caused serious concern for India, not
only because oil and other resources come to India through
the Arabian Sea, but also since India perceives its naval
sphere of influence to ultimately include the span of the
Indian Ocean. Along the same lines, India shares an interest
with the U.S. in keeping sea lanes of communication safe and
open to merchant trade. As U.S.-India defense cooperation
continues to blossom, working together with India within the
UN on maritime security issues could pay benefits for our
broader relationship.


8. (C) Global Disaster Relief: This is an area which has
seen great global cooperation since the tsunami, yet the U.S.
and India could still do more together to lead within the
UN,s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) on
Asian and global disaster relief preparations. Again, this
is an area where we could leverage our new security
relationship, as although India is still squeamish about
talking about "interoperability" with U.S. forces, developing
joint capabilities for humanitarian operations would likely
be attractive politically in New Delhi. One idea would be
for the U.S. and India to work together with the
International Maritime Organization to create a regional
anti-piracy initiative.


9. (C) Comment. Indian contacts here assure us that India,s
past practice of constant opposition to U.S. interests in the
UN does not reflect the character of our new relationship,
and that we can expect closer cooperation in the future.
We're eager to see the GOI demonstrate that. Post stands
ready to work from New Delhi in putting India to the test to
carry out its promise that better cooperation is ahead. Part
of the problem stems from India's habit of parking diplomatic
troglodytes in international institutions. This list of
ideas for areas of greater cooperation is not meant to cover
every possibility, but will hopefully be viewed by Washington
and New York as ideas for further thought.
MULFORD