Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08DOHA56
2008-01-24 14:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Doha
Cable title:  

QATARI MFA OFFICIAL SAYS NUCLEAR AIMS OF GCC ARE

Tags:  PREL ENRG TRGY KNNP QA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDO #0056 0241416
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 241416Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7510
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0028
C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000056 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2018
TAGS: PREL ENRG TRGY KNNP QA
SUBJECT: QATARI MFA OFFICIAL SAYS NUCLEAR AIMS OF GCC ARE
TRANSPARENT

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael A. Ratney,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000056

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2018
TAGS: PREL ENRG TRGY KNNP QA
SUBJECT: QATARI MFA OFFICIAL SAYS NUCLEAR AIMS OF GCC ARE
TRANSPARENT

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael A. Ratney,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) MFA Director for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
Affairs Yousef Al-Jaber outlined for P/E Chief January 24
current GCC thinking on the introduction of nuclear
technology in Gulf states. According to Al-Jaber, the GCC
formed a nuclear committee in early 2007 to explore
cooperation on the acquisition and exploitation of nuclear
technologies in GCC states for peaceful purposes. Since this
initiative was undertaken, the committee has held three
meetings and scheduled a fourth for January 27-29 in Doha.
Al-Jaber stressed that members of the committee had met with
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and
would continue to work in close cooperation with the IAEA,
since the GCC states sought full transparency in their quest
for peaceful uses of nuclear technology. He added that the
GCC committee was not partaking in discussions with parties
or countries other than the IAEA on this issue.


2. (C) Al-Jaber explained that Qatar and its fellow GCC
members were looking to nuclear energy as a replacement for
hydrocarbons. According to him, the GCC hoped to establish
nuclear plants to help fulfill its member states' electrical
and water needs in the 2018-2025 time frame pending IAEA
input on the feasibility of this timetable. Al-Jaber
acknowledged that the UAE was farther down the road to
nuclear power than the other states. While he could not
speak for other GCC states, Al-Jaber said Qatar intended to
cooperate with the GCC in developing nuclear technologies.
Of course, said Al-Jaber, the GCC states would proceed at
different paces and could be expected, as the UAE has done
with France, to strike deals outside the GCC framework when
it suited their interest of obtaining the most assistance
possible at the lowest price.


3. (C) For the time being, said Al-Jaber, the GCC states were
approaching the IAEA in concert for guidance on specialists
who could prepare a feasibility study and recommend a
realistic time frame for building nuclear plants for a
post-hydrocarbon world. The members of the GCC nuclear
committee were charged with updating the GCC foreign
ministers every three months, and the heads of state every
six months, on their progress. Al-Jaber said the committee
expects the UAE to report at the upcoming meeting on its
recent discussions with French officials. Asked for GCC
views on the need to develop local expertise in the nuclear
field, Al-Jaber described the need as acute, in the view of
GCC leaders. This explained, he said, why the timeline for
establishing nuclear plants exceeded a decade, since it was
desirable to educate indigenous nuclear physicists and
engineers in the interim period. It was important, concluded
Al-Jaber, that GCC states develop nuclear know-how so that
their citizens may participate fully in the sector and not
leave all the work to foreigners.
RATNEY