READOUT OF THE JANUARY 14 THREE PLUS ONE MEETING

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 000118 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2018 TAGS: PGOV IZ SUBJECT: READOUT OF THE JANUARY 14 THREE PLUS ONE MEETING Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). (S) President Talabani provided the Ambassador with a readout of today's (January 14) meeting of the 3 1; we also received a readout from Vice President Hashimi's Chief of Staff. The four leaders agreed to name themselves the Executive Council and to meet every Monday at 1000. They established a secretariat headed by Naseer al-Ani and including Barham SIPDIS Salih, Mowaffak Rubaie, and Hummam Hammoudi. In addition, they adopted a set of principles drawn up by President Talabani and Vice President Abdel Mehdi. They then agreed to jointly form the SOFA negotiation team and to finalize the members of the team during their next meeting. The four agreed to reform the cabinet by reducing the number of ministers. Hashimi presented Tawafuq's conditions for returning to the government, and the leaders agreed to work on the issues that led to Tawafuq's withdrawal with the goal of reaching resolution within a week. Prime Minister Maliki agreed to rescind his executive order against the AWOL Tawaffuq ministers, allowing them to regain their perks of office. The four agreed to sort out pending appointments of ambassadors, deputy ministers and senior military officials. Maliki and Hashimi agreed to hold a bilateral meeting later this week. CROCKER