Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07USNATO45
2007-01-25 17:33:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Mission USNATO
Cable title:
UNSYG BAN KI-MOON PLEDGES CLOSE COOPERATION WITH
how-toVZCZCXRO8608 OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHNO #0045/01 0251733 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 251733Z JAN 07 FM USMISSION USNATO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0401 INFO RUCNOSC/OSCE POST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 0188 RUCNDT/USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/USNMR SHAPE BE//INTAFF// PRIORITY RUFNPKD/USDOCO SOUTH NAPLES IT//INTAF// PRIORITY RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//AEAGC-ATA/AEAGE-EX// RUCBTEC/USLO SACLANT NORFOLK VA RUEHNO/USDELMC BRUSSELS BE RHMFISS/HQ USAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE//POLAD//
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USNATO 000045
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2017
TAGS: NATO UN MARR PREL
SUBJECT: UNSYG BAN KI-MOON PLEDGES CLOSE COOPERATION WITH
NATO, JANUARY 24
Classified By: Ambassador Victoria Nuland for reasons 1.4 (B,D)
SUMMARY
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USNATO 000045
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2017
TAGS: NATO UN MARR PREL
SUBJECT: UNSYG BAN KI-MOON PLEDGES CLOSE COOPERATION WITH
NATO, JANUARY 24
Classified By: Ambassador Victoria Nuland for reasons 1.4 (B,D)
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (C) Overturning staff objections, UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon sent a strong signal of his personal commitment to
strhengthen UN-NATO relations in an address to the NAC just
three weeks after taking office. Both privately and with the
press afterward, Ban praised the Alliance's contributions to
international peace and security in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and
Darfur. He also pledged to look personally into the
long-languishing UN-NATO Cooperation Agreement. Meeting
bilaterally with Ban, NATO SYG de Hoop Scheffer urged no
delay in getting Kosovo's final status and more UNHQ
attention to Afghanistan. Ban promised to convey Alliance
views on Darfur to African Heads of State in coming days.
End Summary.
BETTER COOPERATION TO MEET COMMON CHALLENGES
--------------
2. (SBU) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with the North
Atlantic Council for 25 minutes on January 14 in an informal,
extraordinary session. In his introductory remarks, NATO
SecGen de Hoop Scheffer pointed to the common challenges
faced by NATO and the UN, including counter-terrorism,
counter-proliferation, and stabilization of failing states.
He stressed that further cooperation was essential to ensure
international peace and security, and noted that 50,000
personnel were presently serving in NATO missions and
operations under UN mandate.
AFGHANISTAN, KOSOVO, DARFUR OPERATIONS
--------------
3. (C) Ban recalled that his meeting with the NAC in December
2005 as Korea's Foreign Minister had broadened his
understanding of international security issues, thereby
advancing his informal candidacy for UNSYG. In a
forward-leaning, extemporaneous statement, he pledged to
strengthen UN-NATO partnership and cooperation at the
organizational level and looked forward to a formal meeting
with the NAC in the future. He praised NATO's effectiveness
in Kosovo and Afghanistan, and its efforts in Darfur. He
acknowledged NATO's impatience that it has waited more than a
year for a UN response to a proposed UN-NATO Cooperation
Agreement text and pledged to take up the matter personally.
The dean of the NAC, Ambassador Novak of Poland, speaking for
all Allies, stressed NATO's evolving approach to
stabilization efforts that merged military and civil
elements, which would be the focus of the informal Foreign
Ministerial on January 26.
SYG TO SYG: GETTING SPECIFIC
--------------
4. (C) In a follow-on bilateral meeting between the two SYGs,
de Hoop Scheffer again stressed the importance the Alliance
places on good working relations with the UN. Ban agreed,
saying that NATO was doing a "fantastic job" in Afghanistan
and Kosovo, but he still had serious concerns about the drug
trafficking and ethnic tensions in the two regions,
respectively. De Hoop Scheffer stressed that the Kosovo
final status decision should not be delayed, and Ban took
that point on board, saying he would meet his envoy Ahtisaari
that night in Paris. De Hoop Scheffer also urged Ban to
stay personally involved with Afghanistan and to strengthen
UNAMA's voice there.
EFFUSIVE TO THE PRESS
--------------
5. (U) Addressing the press upon his departure from NATO, Ban
was effusive. He told the assembled journalists that he was
"committed to working very closely with NATO in the future,"
and praised the Alliance for "contributing to international
peace and stability in Afghanistan, Darfur, Kosovo, and
around the world under UN mandate."
BAN TO HIS STAFF: COOPERATE
--------------
6. (C) The meeting followed two days of back and forth
between the staffs of the two organizations on the modalities
for the meeting or whether Ban would meet the NAC at all.
USNATO 00000045 002 OF 002
Ban's repeated references to strengthening organizational
cooperation and to holding a formal meeting in the future may
have reflected Ban's annoyance at the apparent reticence of
his immediate staff to work closely with NATO.
NULAND
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2017
TAGS: NATO UN MARR PREL
SUBJECT: UNSYG BAN KI-MOON PLEDGES CLOSE COOPERATION WITH
NATO, JANUARY 24
Classified By: Ambassador Victoria Nuland for reasons 1.4 (B,D)
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (C) Overturning staff objections, UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon sent a strong signal of his personal commitment to
strhengthen UN-NATO relations in an address to the NAC just
three weeks after taking office. Both privately and with the
press afterward, Ban praised the Alliance's contributions to
international peace and security in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and
Darfur. He also pledged to look personally into the
long-languishing UN-NATO Cooperation Agreement. Meeting
bilaterally with Ban, NATO SYG de Hoop Scheffer urged no
delay in getting Kosovo's final status and more UNHQ
attention to Afghanistan. Ban promised to convey Alliance
views on Darfur to African Heads of State in coming days.
End Summary.
BETTER COOPERATION TO MEET COMMON CHALLENGES
--------------
2. (SBU) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with the North
Atlantic Council for 25 minutes on January 14 in an informal,
extraordinary session. In his introductory remarks, NATO
SecGen de Hoop Scheffer pointed to the common challenges
faced by NATO and the UN, including counter-terrorism,
counter-proliferation, and stabilization of failing states.
He stressed that further cooperation was essential to ensure
international peace and security, and noted that 50,000
personnel were presently serving in NATO missions and
operations under UN mandate.
AFGHANISTAN, KOSOVO, DARFUR OPERATIONS
--------------
3. (C) Ban recalled that his meeting with the NAC in December
2005 as Korea's Foreign Minister had broadened his
understanding of international security issues, thereby
advancing his informal candidacy for UNSYG. In a
forward-leaning, extemporaneous statement, he pledged to
strengthen UN-NATO partnership and cooperation at the
organizational level and looked forward to a formal meeting
with the NAC in the future. He praised NATO's effectiveness
in Kosovo and Afghanistan, and its efforts in Darfur. He
acknowledged NATO's impatience that it has waited more than a
year for a UN response to a proposed UN-NATO Cooperation
Agreement text and pledged to take up the matter personally.
The dean of the NAC, Ambassador Novak of Poland, speaking for
all Allies, stressed NATO's evolving approach to
stabilization efforts that merged military and civil
elements, which would be the focus of the informal Foreign
Ministerial on January 26.
SYG TO SYG: GETTING SPECIFIC
--------------
4. (C) In a follow-on bilateral meeting between the two SYGs,
de Hoop Scheffer again stressed the importance the Alliance
places on good working relations with the UN. Ban agreed,
saying that NATO was doing a "fantastic job" in Afghanistan
and Kosovo, but he still had serious concerns about the drug
trafficking and ethnic tensions in the two regions,
respectively. De Hoop Scheffer stressed that the Kosovo
final status decision should not be delayed, and Ban took
that point on board, saying he would meet his envoy Ahtisaari
that night in Paris. De Hoop Scheffer also urged Ban to
stay personally involved with Afghanistan and to strengthen
UNAMA's voice there.
EFFUSIVE TO THE PRESS
--------------
5. (U) Addressing the press upon his departure from NATO, Ban
was effusive. He told the assembled journalists that he was
"committed to working very closely with NATO in the future,"
and praised the Alliance for "contributing to international
peace and stability in Afghanistan, Darfur, Kosovo, and
around the world under UN mandate."
BAN TO HIS STAFF: COOPERATE
--------------
6. (C) The meeting followed two days of back and forth
between the staffs of the two organizations on the modalities
for the meeting or whether Ban would meet the NAC at all.
USNATO 00000045 002 OF 002
Ban's repeated references to strengthening organizational
cooperation and to holding a formal meeting in the future may
have reflected Ban's annoyance at the apparent reticence of
his immediate staff to work closely with NATO.
NULAND