AMBASSADOR'S SWEARING IN AND ARRIVAL GARNER

UNCLAS DOHA 000545 SIPDIS NEA/ARP FOR ANDREW STEINFELD NEA/PPD FOR WALTER DOUGLAS R/PPR FOR GRETCHEN WELCH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO QA SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S SWEARING IN AND ARRIVAL GARNER POSITIVE PD COVERAGE ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Ambassador's swearing-in ceremony in Portland, Oregon and immediate engagement in Arabic with the Qatari press, were well covered by the Qatari media and should present a solid basis for using the long-awaited arrival of a U.S ambassador to expand the Mission's engagement with the Qatari public. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) Ambassador LeBaron's July 18 swearing-in at a ceremony at Portland State University in Oregon was covered widely in Qatar's Arabic and English press. Portland State, the Ambassador's alma mater, is also a popular university for students from Qatar and elsewhere in the Gulf; over 2,000 Gulf Arabs have graduated from the university, according to Portland State. ¶3. (U) The swearing-in coincided with a reunion of Gulf PSU alumni, and was designed to use the Ambassador's appointment to build immediate connections with the Qatari people. Ambassador was greeted upon his arrival in Portland by six Qatari students from the area, and he was the keynote speaker at a reunion dinner for alumni of Portland State from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Ambassador read a letter of welcome at the dinner from the Qatari Justice Minister, who is president of the GCC alumni group and one of more than 250 Portland State alumni from Qatar. ¶4. (U) As part of the events surrounding the swearing-in ceremony, Ambassador met in Portland with several Oregonian businesses with an interest in Qatar, and visited the headquarters of Mercy Corps, a non-governmental organization that is exploring joint relief projects in Iraq with Qatar's Reach Out to Asia organization. In addition to radio and print interviews, he addressed the World Affairs Council of Oregon. Six of Qatar's Arabic and English newspapers ran prominent coverage of the swearing-in ceremony and associated events, along with a photo of the Qatari students greeting the Ambassador. ¶5. (U) Upon landing in Qatar on July 28, Ambassador delivered an arrival statement to the local media. Speaking in Arabic and English, he emphasized the positive bilateral relationship and conveyed his desire to deepen our strategic friendship with Qatar and increase opportunities for American businesses and ideas. Qatar Radio ran coverage of the statement the same night, and all of Qatar's Arabic and English language newspapers provided prominent coverage and images on July 29 and 30. LeBaron