NORWAY'S INTEREST IN IRAQ PRIMARILY BASED ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OSLO 000326

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/13/2018
TAGS: ABLD EAID ECON EPET PGOV PREL IZ NO
SUBJECT: NORWAY'S INTEREST IN IRAQ PRIMARILY BASED ON
IMMIGRATION ISSUES

REF: OSLO 20

Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Kristen Bauer
for reasons 1.4 b and d

1.(C) Summary: Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister participated
in the Stockholm Iraq Compact meeting and pledged to help
Iraqi with reconciliation, democracy building, humanitarian
needs and energy cooperation but did not offer details.
According to MFA contacts Norwegian participation in the
Stockholm meeting was primarily aimed at achieving the same
"deal" with Iraq on repatriation that Sweden received. This
effort did not succeed as the Iraqis refused to even talk
until the Norwegians fixed the issue of finding a site for
the new Iraqi Embassy in Oslo. Energy cooperation and
humanitarian assistance remain the primary areas of
interaction between Iraq and Norway although further
development of these ties seems uncertain at this time. End
Summary.

-------------- Norway's Views on the ICI --------------


2. (C) Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere originally planed
to attend the Stockholm conference, but was unable to do so
because of an unplanned stop in Dublin to celebrate the
agreement on a new treaty to ban most cluster munitions.
Deputy FM Raymond Johansen replaced him and pledged Norway's
willingness to support a "broad and legitimate political
reconciliation process" and called for Iraq to create
democratic institutions which safeguard the rights of women,
minorities and other vulnerable groups. He highlighted
Norway's chairing of a humanitarian donor group in Amman and
called for closer cooperation between the UN, Iraq and the
international community. Johansen also promised to support
Iraq in rebuilding its economy, particularly in capacity
building in the petroleum sector. Note: These pledges did
not cover any new ground.


3. (C) After a conversation with the MFA's Iraq desk, the
true grounds for Norway's interest in Iraq became apparent.
The MFA official first expressed Norway's support for the ICI
goals and their belief that the ICI meeting's normality was a
good sign. She did not, however, have any indication that
Norway was planning any additional assistance to Iraq. She
then mentioned that Norway's primary motivation for attending
the ICI conference was to obtain the same deal on
repatriation with Iraq that Sweden had reached. When
Johansen held a bilateral meeting with the Iraqis, he
specifically asked for this type of deal. He was told that
no deal was possible until the GON solved the impasse with
the Oslo City Council that is preventing the Iraqis from
establishing an embassy in Oslo. The GON agreed that
Johansen would accompany the Iraqi Ambassador (resident in
Stockholm) to the City Council to push for resolution of this
issue. Note: The MFA official mentioned that the Iraqis
seemed to regret the repatriation deal with Sweden with some
Iraqi officials openly complaining that now everyone wants
the same deal. The same Iraqis said that Sweden hosting the
ICI meeting was part of the repatriation deal. End Note.

-------------- Iraqis in Norway --------------


4. (C) Iraqis comprise the third largest immigrant group in
Norway (approximately 22,000) and the number of Iraqis coming
to Norway is growing. The number of Iraqi asylum cases has
doubled from 2007 and the Norwegian Directorate of
Immigration has dramatically increased staffing assigned to
processing Iraqi asylum and refugee cases. Many Iraqi asylum
seekers are Kurdish and/or come from Northern Iraq, leading
UDI officials to speculate that it is not any specific events
that are the cause of the increase, but simply word of mouth
from the many Kurdish Iraqis in Norway. Norway is eager to
tighten rules to discourage such immigration and is also very
interested in developing mechanisms to ease the departure of
unwanted individuals, such as Mullah Krekar. (Septel will
cover Norway's Iraq population in detail.)

-------------- Energy Cooperation --------------


5. (SBU) StatoilHydro, Norway's main energy company, recently
expressed interest in investing in Iraq but is holding off
until the dispute between the Kurds and the central
government over revenue sharing and authority to grant
contracts is resolved. DNO, a smaller Norwegian energy
company, is actively producing oil in northern Iraq but some
in the company have questioned the viability of a long-term
presence. The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has an ongoing
program of assistance in terms of training and capacity

OSLO 00000326 002 OF 002


building with the Iraqi Oil Ministry and is active in
encouraging Iraq to participate in the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI). So, while there is interest
and potential, at present there is little likelihood that
Norway's energy sector will drive any significant increase in
Norwegian involvement in Iraq.

-------------- Humanitarian Activities --------------


6. (SBU) Norwegian assistance to Iraq is primarily funneled
through Norwegian and international NGOs and the UN. Other
assistance is given to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and IRFFI.
The GON has contributed $23.38 million to IRFFI since 2003
(half to the UNDP and half to the World Bank) and $3.23
million to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. The Norwegian Red
Cross, Norwegian Church Aid, the Norwegian Refugee Council
and Norwegian People's Aid, which are heavily funded by the
GON, all are involved in differing projects concerning Iraq.
Norwegian Church Aid has worked in Iraq since 1997 in the
Baghdad and Basra regions. Their work is primarily in water
and hygiene projects, psychiatric help to children and youth,
and in strengthening civil society. The other groups are not
in Iraq but help with Iraqi refugees in Lebanon and Syria,
particularly with education. A Norwegian NGO, FAFA,
conducted a survey of Iraqi refugees in Jordan and an
estimate on what this influx was costing the Jordanian
government, which is the first large-scale study of this
issue. There has been no indications that 2008 aid will be
increased or changed in focus.


-------------- Comment --------------


7. (C) Comment: It appears that Norway's interest in Iraq is
primarily driven by domestic concerns over rising asylum
seekers and immigration policies. The reluctance of the
Iraqis to discuss a repatriation deal may spur the GON to
pressure the Oslo City Council over the embassy building. If
the GON does this it will set a precedent that could prove
useful to our efforts to encourage similar pressure on the
City Council for our NEC permits. If the GON is unable to
resolve the Iraqi Embassy issue, a deal may not be possible
and the Iraqis may give up their attempt to establish an
embassy in Oslo. This would be a very negative indication of
the GON's real willingness to support Iraq.
WHITNEY