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