ARGENTINA: A/S SHANNON MEETS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000589

SIPDIS

G/TIP FOR BARBARA FLECK AND MARK FORSTROM
WHA/PPC FOR SCOTT MILLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM EINV PTER TSPL ETRD SNAR SCUL
MASS, ASEC, AR, UK
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: A/S SHANNON MEETS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER
TAIANA TO DISCUSS BILATERAL COOPERATION

REF: (A) BUENOS AIRES 0513 (B) BUENOS AIRES 0519 (C)
BUENOS AIRES 0520 (D) BUENOS AIRES 0522 (E)
BUENOS AIRES 0575

Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4(d)


1. (SBU) Summary: April 11 A/S Shannon and Ambassador Wayne
agreed with Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana and his
team to revive and modify a mechanism for bilateral dialogue.
The approved concept sets out two additional bilateral
meetings under the 1997 "Framework of Understanding between
the GOA and the USG on the Establishment of a Special Process
of Regular High-Level Bilateral Consultations," with the next
meeting set for June in Buenos Aires. The meetings should
include other agencies, as the agenda will be broad. They
agreed to have a working group refine the agenda, which
should include bilateral cooperation on science and
technology, tourism, education, and province-to-state
relations in addition to a core of foreign policy issues.
Ambassador Wayne pressed the GoA to speak more about its
experience as a victim of Hizballah, congratulated the GoA
for passing TIP legislation, and brought up the stalled
Megaports initiative. Taiana and team maintained the GoA's
hard line on Doha Development Round industry sector
negotiations and pushed for the U.S. to use its influence
with HMG to get it to mediate with Argentina over the
Falklands dispute.


2. (SBU) Taiana was joined by newly appointed Vice Foreign
Minister Vittorio Taccetti (just arrived that morning from
Rome),U/S for Bilateral Policy Ambassador Vicente
Espeche-Gil, and Ambassador to the United States Hector
Timerman. A/S Shannon and Ambassador Wayne were accompanied
by DCM, Polcouns, Econcouns, and ESTHcouns. Over lunch,
Chief of Staff Alberto D'Alotto, Secretary for Trade Alfredo
Chiaradia, and Assistant Secretary for Latin American Affairs
Agustin Colombo joined. End Summary.

Structuring the Bilateral Framework
--------------


3. (SBU) Minister Taiana expressed his gratitude for A/S
Shannon's visit and noted the participation of Vice FM (and
former Ambassador to Italy) Vittorio Taccetti, who had just
arrived in Buenos Aires and took up his new duties hours
before. Espeche-Gil kicked off the substantive portion of
the meeting by noting that this would be the first of three
meetings in 2008 to explore a framework of understanding
between Argentina and the United States, with subsequent
meetings to be held in June (in Buenos Aires) and in the
early fall (venue TBD). Espeche-Gil stressed the importance
of having a wide and open agenda as a starting point to
discuss bilateral issues. Taiana identified some areas of
established bilateral cooperation, such as counter-terrorism
and counter-narcotics.


4. (SBU) A/S Shannon thanked the Argentine delegation for
hosting and emphasized USG interest in a positive bilateral
relationship. A/S Shannon stressed the importance of a
constructive work agenda that would show results soon. He
said that the USG was ready to institutionalize the dialogue
and to identify areas where we could work with Argentina to
achieve results in the short- to medium-term.

Branching Out -- Legislature, States, and Cities
-------------- ---


5. (SBU) Taiana focused initially on low-controversy issues
that were unlikely to find offense. He encouraged expanding
dialogue to the legislative branch of government, and
mentioned areas of cooperation at the federal and municipal
levels. He noted the creation of the U.S.-Argentina
Friendship Committee in the Argentine Senate (to match the
existing group in its lower chamber) as a positive
development. The Ambassador noted that the U.S. Congress
didn't have an exact counterpart, but had members and
subcommittees greatly interested in the region who would
likely welcome greater contact. Timerman shared GoA plans to
bring Argentine parliamentarians to the United States to
explain Mercosur.


6. (SBU) Taiana said that we should explore cooperation at
the federal level, involving U.S. states and Argentine
provinces. He noted that Argentina and the United States are
two of only five federalist countries in the hemisphere. The
Ambassador suggested creating a space (in the form of a
conference or seminar) to bring in representatives from both

states and provinces to share experiences. A/S Shannon added
that many states have foreign relations departments that
could be a good starting point. Taccetti mentioned that the
federal government also could play a role by providing the
local chambers of commerce with information on which
provinces produce what goods and which countries buy the
products. A/S Shannon said the GoA needed to convince state
governments that Argentina was a good place for investment.


7. (SBU) In this light, Taiana also encouraged creating a
dialogue between the Argentine Municipal Federation (FAM) and
municipalities in the United States. Taiana noted that
municipalities have a firm, active role in local governance,
which he said was very important. The Ambassador mentioned
the sister cities program between Bariloche and Aspen as an
example of positive relations between U.S. and Argentine
cities, which could be expanded.

Tourism and Education
--------------


8. (SBU) Two other areas of possible bilateral cooperation
that interested Taiana were tourism and education. He
specifically cited the importance of working together to
encourage tourism. Ambassador Wayne commented that we could
work with tourism businesses representing both countries and
establish a working group on the tourism issue.


9. (SBU) Taiana said that education also must be on the
bilateral agenda, and Ambassador Wayne agreed. Taiana said
that Ambassador Timerman was very active and interested in
educational exchanges. He mentioned that Timerman had
written a book entitled "Study in Argentina" as a guide for
students wishing to study in Argentina, and that for the
first time in memory, more Americans were studying in
Argentine universities than vice versa. Timerman cited the
decision by NYU to reopen a campus in BA: that decision was
based on an NYU study that placed Argentina as the most
attractive country in the region for educational experiences
and one of the top five in the world where students wanted to
study abroad. A/S Shannon suggested emulating a program
Chile had worked on with the United States to encourage
Argentine students to study in the U.S. Targeted
specifically at non-English speakers, the students enrolled
in English language training for a year before they would
leave to study in the United States. Chile paid for the
university study and the US for the English training. Taiana
and Timerman both welcomed the idea. Ambassador noted
several positive examples of bilateral educational exchanges:
NYU's satellite campus in Buenos Aires; Rice University's
efforts to build a student base in Argentina; and
Embassy-sponsored english scholarships last year for high
school students who wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise.

Economy, Technology, and Biofuels
--------------


10. (SBU) Taiana said that Argentina has been growing
strongly for the past six years, and he expressed confidence
that Argentina's commitment to maintaining both a primary
fiscal surplus and a trade surplus will finally overcome the
nation's history of volatile economic performance. Taiana
said the Argentine economy was "more solid than it has ever
been."


11. (SBU) Taiana's proposed agenda for the June meeting
included collaboration on science and technology, which he
described as a focus continued from former president Nestor
Kirchner's government. Taiana expressed interest in the
high-technology sector as an area where Argentina could grow
and one that could be an interesting area for bilateral
cooperation. The Ambassador said that there are already
numerous U.S. businesses present in the innovation sector in
Argentina that could be willing to invest more given good
opportunities and a favorable investment climate. (Science,
Technology and Investment Minister Baranao subsequently
agreed to participate in a roundtable with U.S. companies to
explore options.)


12. (SBU) The Embassy's EST counselor mentioned a possible
biofuels MOU establishing a bilateral biofuels working group
as a no-cost way to institutionalize bilateral cooperation in
an area important to both countries. Taiana mentioned the
March Washington International Renewable Energy Conference
(WIREC) meeting and noted further possibilities to work
together. A/S Shannon mentioned that the United States is
committed to aggressively incorporating alternative energy

(AE) sources into the U.S. energy consumption mix, with a
goal of 10% AE contribution by 2020. He acknowledged that
there were political sensitivities to current tariffs applied
to the import of biofuels in our Senate.

Saldano Case
--------------


13. (SBU) Timerman brought up the Victor Saldano case
involving an Argentine on death row in Texas who was
appealing to the Supreme Court. He said there was a similar
case with a Mexican who had not received consular access.
Timerman said that he had spoken with the Department of
Justice to discuss the case. A/S Shannon explained that the
Mexican case is the product of a ruling by the International
Court of Justice asking the U.S. to review court decisions in
death penalty cases where consular access had been an issue.
After the ruling, POTUS asked states to review relevant court
decisions, but some states rejected the request. A/S Shannon
noted there were constitutional issues in play that only the
Supreme Court could resolve.

TIP
---


14. (SBU) Espeche-Gil mentioned that the U.S. TIP report
faulted the GoA's lack of legislation on the issue. He
brought up the recent passage of the TIP law (BA 465) and
asked if this would change our coverage of the issue in
future reports. The Ambassador congratulated the GoA for
passing the TIP law, urged vigorous implementation, and
offered U.S. assistance to boost prosecutions of traffickers.
He said the new legislation was encouraging, but Washington
was looking to see how it would be implemented. Taiana said
the current system had not been working and that federalizing
the crime gave the GoA the jurisdiction and authority to
investigate and prosecute.

Malvinas/Falklands
--------------


15. (C) Taiana launched into a lengthy explanation of
Argentina's claim on the Malvinas/Falklands islands, saying
the GOA was looking to its friends to help get HMG to the
table. Since May 2003, the Argentine government has been
increasingly vocal on the Malvinas/Falklands, he said.
According to Taiana, the GoA wants to disabuse the British of
their view that this is "just an electoral issue" for the
Argentines. The GOA considered its claim to the islands to
be inalienable and "unrenouncable." He said the GoA would
continue to denounce this vestige of British colonialism. He
said the 1982 invasion had been an aberration from decades of
peaceful pursuit of Argentina's claim, and there was
therefore no need for the British to keep an active military
base with "thousands" of troops in a peaceful area. He said
that the 1982 War was only possible because of Argentina's
military dictatorship at the time, and he "trusted that one
day the weight of the U.S. would make the British sit at the
negotiating table."

Doha Round
--------------


16. (SBU) Taiana lamented USTR's recent criticism of
Argentina and other developing market economies in current
WTO DOHA round negotiations. Taiana said that the United
States must understand that Argentina cannot accept any
outcome that could comprise future Argentine GDP growth and
the "recuperation" of its industrial sector. Taiana said
that, while the GoA has room to be flexible on Doha service
sector commitments, proposed asymmetrical industrial sector
tariff cuts favor developed countries are simply not
acceptable to Argentina. Ambassador noted recent positive
developments in agricultural sector negotiations, and pointed
out Argentina's interest in a robust services agreement given
robust foreign investment inflows into Argentina's developing
services sector. (At a lunch hosted by Taiana afterwards,
MFA chief trade negotiator and Trade Secretary Alfredo
Chiaradia joined the group and repeated his normal harangue
justifying GOA inflexibility in the industrial sector
negotiations. He added that Argentina would be helpful on
agriculture and would also make a constructive effort on
services but it could only accept a 50% cut in industrial
tariffs. Chiaradia argued that other flexibilities in the
current draft were not sufficient.)

Counter-Terrorism

--------------


17. (C) The Ambassador brought up two topics in the fight
against terrorism. He advised Taiana that the Spanish
Ambassador would soon request a meeting to present, together
with him and the Russian Ambassador, a troika demarche on the
Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. Taiana said
he looked forward to meeting with the three ambassadors and
that Argentina was looking favorably at participating in the
Madrid meeting. The Ambassador also encouraged the GoA to
speak at international gatherings about its experience as the
victims of Hizballah in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli
Embassy and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA community center.
The Ambassador recognized the risks perceived by the GoA of
speaking up about Iran and Hizballah, but urged consideration
of doing so in international fora where Argentina's
experience was of great relevance and could help alert other
governments to the dangers faced and the warning signs for
which to look.

GSP
---


18. (SBU) Timerman noted the GoA's concern about the
upcoming December 2008 expiry of U.S. unilateral trade
preferences program, the General System of Preferences (GSP).
EconCouns noted the GoA's active and successful advocacy to
retain Argentine benefits in the run-up to the GSP's
program's last December 2006 renewal. He explained that, in
preparation for Congress's upcoming debate on GSP program
renewal, the U.S. General Accounting Office has begun an
analysis an assessment of program utilization and success to
date.

Megaports Initiative
--------------


19. (SBU) Ambassador brought up the Megaports initiative by
reminding Taiana that we had agreed on a draft MOU two years
ago but that the issue had stalled since then. The GoA,
however, had yet to designate an implementing agency and was
therefore missing out on valuable materiel and technical
assistance. Taiana said he had tried to mediate with little
success and called the two-year delay "absurd." He
forecasted that it would be resolved shortly because there
were new people in charge at Argentine Customs and the Coast
Guard.

Excerpt from MFA press release below:
--------------


20. (U) (Embassy's informal translation) Following up on the
meeting in Washington March 18 between Foreign Minister Jorge
Taiana and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and in
the framework of the decision to energize the bilateral
relationship, the Argentine Foreign Minister held a working
meeting at midday at San Martin Palace with the Assistant
Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon...Both
delegations verified, with satisfaction, the importance and
fluidity of the dialogue that exists between the two
countries. Later, the meeting continued in a lunch that
Minister Taiana offered to Shannon and his team.


21. (U) A/S Shannon has cleared this cable.
WAYNE