SLOVENIA AND U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AGREE ON IMPORTANCE OF THE TEC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000161 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/NCE C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - ADDED NOFORN CAPTION E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2018 TAGS: ECON ETRD BGOV EUN SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA AND U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AGREE ON IMPORTANCE OF THE TEC Classified By: Charge Maryruth Coleman, Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C/NF) In April 3 meetings with Dan Christman, Senior Vice President of International Relations at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, senior officials from the Ministry of Economy (MoE) and MFA stressed that the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) was very important for Slovenia and that it was important to show that we can achieve concrete results from it. Anita Pipan, MFA Director General for Policy Planning and Multilateral Political Relations, noted that TEC needed to produce concrete results in May while creating a vision for the future. Sabina Kolesa, the MoE Director General for Foreign Economic Relations, said that Minister Vizjak would attend the May 13 TEC meeting. All officials were aware that poultry was a most sensitive item and would be a litmus test. Christman asked his interlocutors for their views about French enthusiasm about TEC. Kolesa responded that there were no signs that the French were not enthusiastic, and in any case Germany still played a strong role. The Slovene officials shared Christman's view that the TEC should remain an institution after elections in the U.S. and the EU. ¶2. (SBU) The Slovene officials also expressed concern about U.S. legislation requiring 100 percent container scanning. Pipan suggested they needed more discussions, while recognizing it was a matter of national security for the U.S. According to Pipan, Slovenia had almost completed a study that showed the high costs the law would have on Slovenia; she undertook to pass along the data to the Chamber of Commerce. ¶3. (SBU) Christman alerted the Slovenes to the Chamber's concerns about intellectual property protection. He requested that they be attentive to what is happening in WHO, especially about licensing. Pipan explained that the EU had certain redlines about financing and intellectual property, agreeing that WHO should not interfere with the TRIPS Agreement (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights). She suggested that sustainable financing should stem from existing mechanisms and noted that the EU, U.S., Japan, Australia, and Canada were together in a like-minded group. An MoE official said that member-states had a keen interest in starting negotiations on an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and had shared their views with the Commission, which spoke for the EU in Geneva. In discussing the Doha Round, the Slovenes were concerned whether the U.S. would be able to gain fast track negotiating authority to ratify it. Pipan aptly summed up the friendly, comprehensive discussions as illustrating that Slovenia and the U.S. "shared values and mutual interests." COLEMAN