BOUTEFLIKA CAUTIOUSLY DEFENDS IRANIAN NUCLEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 000916 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2018 TAGS: PREL PARM PINR IR AG SUBJECT: BOUTEFLIKA CAUTIOUSLY DEFENDS IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM Classified By: CDA, a.i. Thomas F. Daughton; reasons 1.4 (b, d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: During an August 11 speech at an official breakfast in Tehran, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika cautiously affirmed Iran's legal right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop a peaceful civilian nuclear energy program, but urged Iran to continue negotiations with the West. Bouteflika led a delegation of ministers during an August 10 - 12 visit to Tehran as part of an ongoing effort to mend ties between Algeria and Iran after relations soured in the 1990s over Iran's support for the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). While in Tehran, Bouteflika met twice with Iranian President Ahmadinejad and visited Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei to discuss economic cooperation, civilian nuclear energy, and development in the region. Local press portrayed the visit as a positive step forward in bolstering Algerian-Iranian relations, and flooded the front pages with images of the two presidents side-by-side at high-profile events. A local political analyst said the visit signaled a fresh start for relations between Algeria and Iran and that the focus on commercial cooperation was a concrete step in the process of normalizing diplomatic relations. Journalists read Bouteflika's comments on Iranian nuclear enrichment as an effort to underscore Algeria's neutral diplomacy and portray itself as a broker between Iran and the West. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) Bouteflika stopped in Tehran on his return trip from the Beijing Olympics to meet with Ahmadinejad and underscore the "blossoming" relationship between Algeria and Iran, which weathered a cold spell in the 1990s because of Iran's support for the FIS. Bouteflika led a delegation including the ministers of foreign affairs, energy, health, higher education, and housing to discuss economic cooperation and common development and security interests in the region. While in Tehran, Bouteflika received two long audiences with Ahmadinejad and met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The Algerian delegation also met in a larger session with ministry counterparts to discuss joint commercial ventures and energy cooperation. Separately, President Bouteflika met with Iranian Minister of Defense Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and National Security Council Secretary Said El Djalili. ¶3. (U) Foreign Minister Medelci highlighted Algeria's interest in establishing joint ventures in cement production, auto manufacturing and railroad infrastructure. He cited a 220 million-euro cement production venture as an exemplary project that would economically benefit both countries and encourage technology transfer, a key goal for Algeria. Energy and Mines Minister (and OPEC President) Chakib Khelil said he discussed with his Iranian counterpart a meeting of gas-producing countries scheduled for November in Moscow, as well as future cooperation with Iran in the hydrocarbons sector. During the visit, Algeria and Iran concluded bilateral agreements relating to customs and banking, as well as a double-taxation agreement. IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The centerpiece of Bouteflika's visit was his August 11 toast during an official breakfast hosted by Ahmadinejad. Bouteflika repeated past Algerian statements in affirming that as a signatory to the NPT Iran has the legal right to pursue a civilian nuclear energy program for peaceful ends that serve its own development interests. He added that Algeria acknowledged the right of all NPT signatories to have access to nuclear technology for civilian uses. Stopping short of a full endorsement of Iran's behavior, Bouteflika urged Iran "to explore ways likely to promote a negotiated settlement over its disagreement with certain countries concerning its nuclear program." ¶5. (SBU) Bouteflika used the remainder of his speech to outline other key aspects of Algerian foreign policy. As to regional security, Bouteflika called for a "nuclear-free" Middle East and criticized the West's tolerance of a nuclear-armed Israel, which he called the region's greatest proliferation threat. On Iraq, Bouteflika stated the need for a national reconciliation program and called for a ALGIERS 00000916 002 OF 002 timetable on the withdrawal of foreign forces. He noted the plight of Palestinians and the unresolved status of Western Sahara to point out obstacles to socio-economic integration in the region. The Western Sahara conflict, he said, continues to hamper the establishment of the Arab Maghreb Union. He voiced support for UN resolution 1813 and called on all parties in the conflict to negotiate without preconditions. ¶6. (SBU) Bouteflika also reserved part of his speech to bemoan the state of the world economy and the process of globalization. He noted the "great sacrifices" Algeria and Iran had made to liberalize their economies, open their markets and integrate into the world economy "to benefit from the fruits of growth and development." Sounding a familiar sour note, Bouteflika said that his national economy was hindered by international exchanges, non-transparent trade rules and a system that lacks ethics and favors uncontrolled capital flows with almost no emphasis on technology transfer to developing countries. ¶7. (C) Algerian press coverage of the meetings in Tehran was exhaustive in state and independent media and presented the image Algiers likely wanted to project: Bouteflika as able mediator, standing on equal footing with a regional heavyweight. Ghada Hamrouche and Salim Tamani, journalists for two independent French-language papers, told us that Bouteflika's comments on Iran's nuclear program demonstrated the neutrality of Algeria's diplomacy, which, they argued, would make Algeria a good broker between the West and Iran. ¶8. (C) Dridi Mokhtar, an academic and political analyst, told us that Bouteflika's visit signaled an end to any lingering reservations between Iran and Algeria. He viewed the attention to commercial activities as first steps in the process of normalization aimed at producing tangible benefits for both sides. Technology transfer, Dridi said, was also an important goal for Algiers, including nuclear technology. On nuclear cooperation, however, Dridi assessed that Algeria would adopt a wait-and-see approach as long as the crisis between Iran and the West continued. PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED -------------- ¶9. (C) COMMENT: Algeria's rapprochement with Iran has been underway for several years. In August 2007, Bouteflika hosted Ahmadinejad in Algiers and since then there has been a steady exchange of ministry-level delegations to discuss areas for cooperation. Bouteflika's visit was a follow-up to the last round of high-level talks in Algiers and underscored the seeming readiness of both sides to deepen economic and diplomatic ties. The latest exchange appears nonetheless to have been as short on real substance as the previous encounters, and Bouteflika's remarks look like they were designed to avoid displeasing his Iranian hosts more than anything else. Bouteflika has privately made clear to us his opposition to an Iranian nuclear weapons program; publicly, however, he reiterated his standard talking points on the right to peaceful nuclear energy. Despite grabbing headlines here, his cautious defense of Iran's nuclear activities tracked with the familiar legalistic, Non-Aligned reasoning of Algerian diplomacy. DAUGHTON