OMANI MFA PRE-BRIEF OF GCC SUMMIT AGENDA AND ISSUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000877 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2018 TAGS: PREL ECON ETRD PTER IR MU SUBJECT: OMANI MFA PRE-BRIEF OF GCC SUMMIT AGENDA AND ISSUES Classified By: DCM L.Victor Hurtado for Reasons 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) briefed the diplomatic corps December 27 on the agenda for the December 29-30 GCC Summit. The agenda combines old, well-known issues, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, Iraq, and the Gulf common market along with newer issues, e.g., rising Indian-Pakistani tensions, piracy, civilian nuclear energy development, and extra-regional trade. Regarding the last item, the MFA Secretary General confirmed recent press reports that negotiations on a proposed EU-GCC Free Trade Agreement had reached deadlock. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) DCM on December 27 attended an MFA GCC Summit pre-brief for Chiefs of Mission/designees. MFA SecGen Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Humud al-Busaidi presided and handled Q/As with Amb. Ahmad bin Yusef al-Harthi of the Arabian Affairs Department providing a political brief and Amb. Talib bin Miran al-Raisi of the Economic and Technical Cooperation Department providing the economic overview. Sayyid Badr was refreshingly frank and almost blunt in his handling of the event. He held out the possibility of a post-summit briefing as well. ¶3. (C) POLITICAL: Al-Harthi noted that the agenda is traditionally divided into old business and new business with long-standing permanent issues dominating the schedule. On the political side, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict headed the agenda (NB: With recent developments in Gaza, this item will no doubt take up more of the agenda.). This conflict drained the region, fed into terrorist ideology, and required a just and fair settlement before the region could move on. Second on the political agenda was GCC relations with Iran. Here the focus was trying to find common ground in order to avoid a direct confrontation with Iran. (NB: The Iranian Ambassador was present at the briefing.) Third on the list was discussion of the political situation in Iraq. Acknowledging that a secure and stable Iraq was a prerequisite for regional stability, al-Harthi recognized the decrease in violence in Iraq and called the recent U.S.-Iraqi security agreements a "great achievement." Discussion would also focus on how to support Iraq,s progress. As for new political business, al-Harthi said the agenda would center on how the GCC could help reduce Indian-Pakistani tensions. He noted explicitly that the large number of Indian and Pakistani expats working in the Gulf states was a particular area of concern. ¶4. (C) ECONOMIC: On the economic side, GCC efforts would continue towards achieving a Gulf Common Market and a unified trade policy for both internal and external trade. Al-Raisi explained that work would continue on a monetary union that Oman blessed and supported but in which it would not participate as it was "not necessary" for the Sultanate. There would be a progress check on the state of the implementing legislation that had been put into place in each state to bring the common market and monetary union into force. In this context, environmental and water issues would be addressed. There would also be an effort to remove any vestiges of discrimination against GCC citizens by GCC states in terms of retirement, residency, treatment of professions, movement of capital, and tax treatment. Summit participants would accordingly conduct a status review of GCC trade agreements, including those with the EU, Singapore, Australia/New Zealand, Turkey, India, Pakistan, China, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. Also on the agenda as a newer item would be a review of the study done on a proposed GCC rail network. The most important new economic item for discussion, however, would be the global financial crisis. ¶5. (C) Q/A: Sayyid Badr said that GCC delegations headed by foreign ministers would meet December 28 to finalize the agenda and confirm issues for decision. Turning to questions, he noted that the issue of GCC membership for Yemen remained open but that the current focus was on partnering with Yemen to stabilize the country, including by improving the "infrastructure" for future membership consideration. GCC membership for Iraq was not open, however. Instead, the GCC would hold out prospects for partnership with Iraq on an issue by issue basis. On India/Pakistan, Sayyid Badr stated that there was a GCC effort to contain any conflict without a resort to violence by the two parties. In this regard, the role of terrorism was a subject that must be addressed. Nuclear issues, both in terms of Iran and the peaceful civilian uses of nuclear energy within the GCC, would be dealt with in full cooperation with the IAEA and in compliance with international agreements. The goal was to create a framework so that each Gulf state could set out a long-term (10-15 years out) peaceful nuclear program should there be a need to do so. MUSCAT 00000877 002 OF 002 ¶6. (C) EU-GCC FTA: Sayyid Badr confirmed recent press reports that free trade negotiations between the EU and GCC have been suspended. The parties, he stated, had reached deadlock. The GCC had made multiple concessions on human rights issues, but a last round of European demands pushed the negotiations back to square one. For the time being, the GCC had withdrawn all its previous concessions, but the door to continued talks remained open. Asked about piracy, Sayyid Badr assured that the issue would also be addressed at the Summit as it held the potential to disrupt trade. GRAPPO