UNSYG BAN KI-MOON PLEDGES CLOSE COOPERATION WITH

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