OIC SPECIAL ENVOY SADA CUMBER STRESSES UAE/US COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBAI 000186 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP, NEA/ARPI BAGWELL AND MASILKO, E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/14/2018 TAGS: OIC KISL UNESCO AORC PREL PGOV PHUM AE SUBJECT: OIC SPECIAL ENVOY SADA CUMBER STRESSES UAE/US COOPERATION DURING DUBAI VISIT REF: DUBAI 61 DUBAI 00000186 001.2 OF 002 CLASSIFIED BY: Paul Sutphin, Consul General, Consulate Dubai, DOS. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (U) Summary: On May 1 Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Sada Cumber visited Dubai to brief UAEG officials on his OIC mission and to encourage US/UAEG partnership on outreach efforts to the Muslim world. During his meeting with Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs (and champion of the US$10 billion endowed Mohammed bin Rashid Foundation) Mohammed Gergawi, the Special Envoy identified two immediate bilateral projects: sharing digital content for online libraries and joint organization of a Muslim NGO summit in Washington DC. Special Envoy Cumber posited other bilateral opportunities during his meetings with Young Arab Leaders' Chairman of the Board, Dr. Omar bin Sulieman, and the board members of Dubai Women's Establishment. End summary. ¶2. (C) While meeting Gergawi, Minister of State Reem al Hashemi and Director General of the Dubai Executive Office and President of the recently established Mohammed bin Rashid Foundation (MbRF) Nabil Ali Alyousuf, Special Envoy Sada Cumber outlined the key initiatives for cooperation encompassed by the draft US/OIC Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). He noted that while the OIC agreed to focus on education, health and science, and technology, they were not comfortable with the original proposal to include the advancement of women. Sharing digital library content -------------- ¶3. (SBU) As an initial project under the MOU, the Special Envoy described USG commitment to establishing digital libraries in the Islamic world's ten poorest countries. Alyousuf noted the MbRF is working with Microsoft to develop a similar online research platform, but the Foundation has had difficulties signing on content providers. Noting the synergies, Special Envoy Cumber suggested a partnership with his office helping the MbRF secure content for their research platform. Let's host a summit -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Extending the theme of partnership, Special Envoy Cumber described President Bush's proposed White House summit of the top fifteen Muslim non-governmental organizations. Gergawi, recognizing a potential synergy with the MbRF's recently announced Center for Arab Philanthropy (see reftel),elaborated on the MbRF's work in Islamic world philanthropy and volunteered to assist the Special Envoy in organizing the summit. Kosovo recognition -------------- ¶5. (C) Turning to Kosovo, Gergawi observed that the impact of recognition would be far stronger if announced by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),rather than on a GCC country by country basis. He speculated that the GCC ministers had already decided upon recognition and that only the timing of the formal announcement was pending. Case study for UNESCO -------------- ¶6. (SBU) During a meeting with Dr. Omar bin Sulieman (Governor of the Dubai International Financial Center, Chairman of the Dubai Cultural Authority and Chairman of the Board of the Young Arab Leaders, YAL),Sulieman elaborated on YAL's goals of developing future leaders for the region through job opportunities and educational programs. When the Special Envoy lamented the lack of relevant case studies for a June 17-19 UNESCO conference in Kuwait on Arab youth and leadership, Sulieman volunteered to provide the conference with YAL studies. Continuing on the subject of Muslim youth, the Special Envoy pointed out issues being faced by European Muslim Communities, noting he would like to introduce Sulieman and YAL to Farah Pandith, Senior Advisor in State's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs front office, so they can jointly work on European Muslim youth initiatives. DUBAI 00000186 002.2 OF 002 Let's bring the ladies to the US -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Focusing on UAE women's accomplishments and potential, board members of Dubai Women's Establishment (DWE) Mona Al Marri (Chairwoman DWE, and CEO, The Media Services Group),Sana Mohammed (Assistant Secretary General, Dubai Executive Council), Maitha Al Shamsi (Managing Director, DWE),and Najla al Wadhi (member of the Federal National Council and Deputy CEO, Dubai Media Incorporated),detailed their strategy and objectives to the visiting Special Envoy. Impressed by the number of women in the senior ranks of UAE public and private sectors, as well as the statistic that more than 50% of UAEG employees are female, Special Envoy Cumber proposed that members of the Dubai Women's Establishment engage in two high visibility US speaking tours: one of high profile Washington government and private sector offices and the other a road tour of large American Muslim communities (such as Houston, Detroit and Chicago). While the women acknowledged the need to increase Arab women's profile internationally, they indicated that they first needed to focus on raising awareness within the region before expanding their horizons internationally. ¶8. (U) Special Envoy Cumber has cleared this cable. SUTPHIN