NETHERLANDS SUPPORTS U.S. CANDIDACY FOR ICAO

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 001646 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR IO/T (LLUFTIG) STATE FOR EB/TRA/OTP (MWALKET-TIGHE) MONTREAL FOR USICAO (LFAUX-GABLE) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAIR AORC ICAO NL SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS SUPPORTS U.S. CANDIDACY FOR ICAO COUNCIL REF: STATE 115443 THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (U) On August 21, Econoff passed reftel points seeking GONL support for U.S. candidacy for a Category I seat on the ICAO Council to Rene Fennes, Head of International Relations, Dutch Transport Ministry. Hans de Jong, Deputy Head of the Dutch delegation to the ICAO Assembly and Transportation Counselor at the Dutch Embassy in Washington, responded that the Dutch would support the U.S. candidacy. He said Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker, Director-General of Transport and Aviation, Dutch Ministry of Transport, would lead the delegation. He added that Bakker, as a member of the Coordinating Committee of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC),would have dinner with the U.S. delegation on September 17, preceding the Assembly. ¶2. (SBU) De Jong mentioned that during a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the ECAC earlier this year, it was agreed that ECAC states would support the U.S. for Category I in return for the U.S. supporting ECAC states in Categories I, II, and III on the ICAO Council. Gallagher