UK PRIME MINISTER DEEPENS UK-QATAR RELATIONSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000796


NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2018
TAGS: PREL EINV EFIN QA UK SU
SUBJECT: UK PRIME MINISTER DEEPENS UK-QATAR RELATIONSHIP
WITH VIST TO DOHA

Classified By: Ambassador Joseph LeBaron for Reasons 1.4 (b, d).

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(C/NF) KEY POINTS
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-- British Prime Minister Brown's recent visit to Doha
centered on bilateral economic ties, and the Prime Minister
assured Qatar that it would play a significant role in
constructing solutions to the global financial crisis.

-- Building better relationships with the Amir and Prime
Minister and advancing British commercial interests were key
objectives of the visit; 30 senior business representatives
accompanied Brown.

-- The two governments also agreed to establish a British
pound 250 million clean technology fund.

-- Britain has come to see Qatar as useful in advancing its
interests with others in the region. Sudan is an issue of
personal importance to Brown, and the UK supports the
Qatari-led Afro-Arab regional initiative on Darfur and has
sent its top Sudan expert to Doha to engage with the GOQ.

-- Britain could soon receive up to 20 percent of its gas
imports from Qatar, and would like to secure further
contracts (though Qatar currently has no spare capacity to
sell).

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(C/NF) COMMENT
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-- Prime Minister Brown is clearly focused on enhancing the
U.K.'s bilateral relationship with Qatar to further British
economic interests, including an expansion of inward
investment and gas imports, as well as Qatar's support for
the IMF.

-- The blossoming UK engagement with Qatar at the highest
levels may not be sustainable beyond Brown's stay in 10
Downing Street, according to our British Embassy colleagues.

-- However, the British Embassy in Doha -- convinced of
Qatar's growing importance to the UK -- is keen to continue
moving the relationship forward, and it is pleased with what
has been achieved through sustained, high-level political and
economic engagement.

END KEY POINTS AND COMMENT.


1. (C/NF) UK Ambassador John Hawkins and UK Political and
Public Affairs Secretary James Lynch gave readouts of British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's November 2-3 visit to Qatar in
separate conversations with Ambassador, P/E Chief, and
Econoff. Lynch noted that Brown's visit to Qatar was the
result of a sustained effort by the UK Embassy in Doha to
convince Downing Street that Qatar matters for British
interests. Brown was the first sitting British Prime
Minister to visit Qatar since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s,
and the first to visit during the current Amir's reign.
Moreover, the UK had not even sent a significant minister to
Qatar since the 1990s. Brown's visit had been planned for
months and was not immediately tied to the current financial
crisis, though financial issues led Brown's discussions.
According to Hawkins, Brown assured Qatar's leadership that
the GOQ would play a significant role in finding solutions to
the global crisis. Brown had at least two one-on-one
meetings with the Amir, and also appeared on Al-Jazeera.


2. (C/NF) Lynch noted that Brown and his staff were initially
focused on tangible deliverables from each meeting, but in
the end the Embassy convinced London that the visit itself -
i.e., building personal relationships with the Amir, Prime
Minister, and other senior officials - was the deliverable.
He continued that Brown and Qatari Prime Minister/Foreign
Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani have "great personal
chemistry" and speak a common language. Hawkins remarked
that Brown is more the economist, and Al Thani more the
businessman, but there is much in the middle that brings the
two together. According to Lynch, Al Thani has met with
Brown several times in London and the two consult regularly
by phone. Lynch said that Brown will often call him in
advance of visits by key British officials and, as a result,
"doors swing open" for these lower-level officials.


3. (C/NF) Discussions during the visit largely focused on
bilateral issues, particularly economic and business ties. A
senior delegation of 30 British business leaders accompanied
Brown and held separate meetings with top Qatari businessmen
during the visit. Lynch noted that the business delegation
portions of the program were more successful than initially
expected, albeit "a bit formulaic" and resulting in the
signing of "only a few small deals." Separately, prominent
local businessman and former Qatari Ambassador to the UK
Sherida Al-Ka'abi told P/E Chief November 4 that Brown's show
of respect to Qatar's leadership had its reward, and most
every prominent Qatari businessman met with the accompanying
delegation.


4. (C/NF) One of the tangible highlights of the trip was an
agreement to establish a joint clean technology fund. The
bilateral partnership will be established between the Qatar
Investment Authority (QIA) and the Carbon Trust, a
quasi-governmental UK foundation which promotes reduction in
carbon emissions. The investment fund will manage 150
million British pounds contributed by the QIA and 10 million
pounds from HMG. The UK will also seek to raise another 90
million pounds from European investors (Note: The press
announcement thus termed the agreement as a 250 million pound
fund). According to Lynch, the fund will invest in clean
energy industries in the UK, Qatar, and across the Middle
East. He also noted that Brown is personally very interested
in renewable energy issues and he first began pursuing the
idea for such a fund during the Jeddah energy meeting in June.


5. (C/NF) Referring to the recent deal whereby British bank
Barclays raised over USD 10 billion in fresh capital from the
QIA and other institutional and private investors, Lynch said
the British are finding that Shaykh Hamad can be an effective
organizer of Middle East investors - both sovereign wealth
funds and individuals. He noted that British public and
private officials working these issues have come to see
Shaykh Hamad as an effective interlocutor who can intervene
and "carry water for them" with other actors (such as Libya)
with whom the British do not themselves have good relations.


6. (C/NF) On energy, Lynch noted that there is an expectation
gap in the UK with regards to Qatari gas exports. The South
Hook liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal currently being
built in Wales could receive enough gas to supply 20 percent
of Britain's consumption, but current contracts from Qatar
will not deliver that capacity. (Note: Deliveries are slated
to start in May 2009 from the QatarGas 2 LNG train). The UK
would like to seal in more Qatari gas to help diversify its
supply, but since all current production is contracted, that
is not immediately feasible. Hawkins noted the incipient
"gas troika" of Russia, Iran, and Qatar was raised by Brown,
but it was "far down the list" and raised only as an
expression of interest, not out of worry or concern.


7. (C/NF) The GOQ and HMG have been discussing a bilateral
treaty on the avoidance of double taxation. However, the UK
bureaucracy continues to study the details. As such, no deal
was signed in Doha. Lynch speculated that Qatar's interest
in such treaties stems from its growing QIA and Qatar
Petroleum International (QPI) investments abroad, including
in Britain.


8. (C/NF) Sudan was the one regional political issue of note
discussed during Brown's visit. Hawkins said that the
British, like the French, are taking the Qatari initiative
seriously and engaging the GOQ on it. Lynch separately
noted that Sudan/Darfur is a "big issue for Brown
personally," and the UK Special Envoy for Sudan had
previously visited Doha to consult with the GOQ on its
approach. International Criminal Court Article 16 continues
to be the sticking point in their joint discussions, and
Lynch assessed that the GOQ now understands that it should
not make deferring President Bashir's indictment an up-front
requirement of the initiative. Instead, the GOS must deliver
progress in concert with other actors. The UK Special Envoy
recently told Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Ahmad Bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud (the GOQ point person on Sudan)
in a carefully worded formulation that "we are not entirely
inflexible" on Bashir but any movement on this issue must be
accompanied by parallel progress in other areas.


9. (C/NF) Concluding with a discussion of Qatar's increasing
strategic importance, Lynch noted that Qatar wants good
relations with traditional powers like the U.S., UK, and
France, but "Qatar's options are expanding," and the
leadership believes Qatar is increasingly in a position where
others need Qatar more than Qatar needs them. He relayed an
anecdote from an upcoming ship visit to illustrate the point
that Qatar is sensitive to perceived slights in its bilateral
political relationships. Due to typical Qatari last-minute
planning and bureaucratic ineptitude, the Qatari military had
not been forthcoming in arranging details for an expected
port call by a UK vessel, prompting the UK defense liaison to
ask if Qatar still wanted the visit. The Qatari military saw
this as a threat and responded that Qatar is one of the most
important countries in the area and did not need the visit -
the UK could cancel if it wanted. The UK defense liaison
explained that the purpose of his call was to finalize the
details, not cancel the visit outright. In the end, the
ship's visit was arranged, but the tense interaction
demonstrated to the Brits the importance of granting due
deference if anything positive is to be achieved.

LeBaron