UNESCO DIRECTOR GENERAL RACE - COMMENTS BY JAPANESE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS FR 002153

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2018
TAGS: UNESCO PREL EG JA
SUBJECT: UNESCO DIRECTOR GENERAL RACE - COMMENTS BY JAPANESE
AMBASSADOR

REF: PARIS FR 2144

Classified by Charge Stephen Engelken, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: During a recent meeting with UNESCO'S Japanese
Ambassador, UNESCO's Egyptian Ambassador learned that the Government
of Japan will insist on supporting the strongest candidate for the
UNESCO position of Director General, regardless of where that
individual comes from. End Summary.


2. (C) The Japanese Ambassador to UNESCO, Tadamichi Yamamoto told
Ambassador Oliver that on November 21 he met the Egyptian Ambassador
to UNESCO, Shadia Kenawy, at her request, to discuss the race for the
position of UNESCO's next Director General. Ambassador Yamamoto said
that Ambassador Kenawy seemed very tense during the meeting. He
recalled that the Egyptian Ambassador began the meeting by asking his
thoughts on the progress of the campaign. The Japanese Ambassador
responded by saying that the Government of Japan (GOJ) was following
the campaign closely, and was in the process of assessing the
strengths of the current candidates for the UNESCO position. He
added that the GOJ would like to see more good candidates enter the
race, as the GOJ wanted the best possible person to become the next
Director General of UNESCO. Ambassador Yamamoto also said that the
GOJ would look for a candidate who supported the reforms done by the
current Director General, and that it would make no firm decision on
any candidate until it saw the entire field of candidates.


3. (C) Ambassador Kenawy then asked whether the GOJ believed in the
principle of rotation for the position of Director General.
Ambassador Yamamoto said that the GOJ respected the desire of regions
that had never had a Director General to have one, but that for the
GOJ, the quality of the candidate was more important than the region
that individual came from. The Egyptian Ambassador asked whether the
Asia-Pacific region would have a candidate. After the Japanese
Ambassador said probably not, the Egyptian Ambassador asked whether
the GOJ would support a candidate from Group 1, the North American
and Western European Electoral Group. The Japanese Ambassador
repeated his previous comments about wanting the best candidate
possible, and said that the GOJ would welcome candidates from all
regions. (Comment: When Ambassador Oliver asked the Japanese
Ambassador if there was in fact a Group 1 candidate, he said that he
had heard that there might be an Italian candidate. Although Italy
is the largest extra-budgetary donor to UNESCO after Brazil, this was
the first time that we have heard this information. It would need to
be confirmed before we could give it any serious consideration. End
Comment)


4. (C) The Egyptian Ambassador then said that their candidate,
Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, had received strong
support from the Arab League, and from many African Culture
Ministers, though not yet from the African Union itself. Ambassador
Yamamoto responded by telling the Egyptian Ambassador that he had
learned that some important countries had serious concerns about Mr.
Hosni, and that he would have to look into those concerns carefully.
He added that he had been told that these concerns had nothing to do
with Egypt or with the Arab region. Ambassador Yamamoto then asked
the Egyptian Ambassador whether Mr. Hosni's candidacy had been
formalized yet. The Egyptian Ambassador said no, and immediately
ended the meeting. The Japanese Ambassador told Ambassador Oliver
that he was sure that the Egyptian Ambassador understood what was
being said which was why she did not want to hear anything more, as
she did not want to have to report negative information back to
Cairo. Mission has also heard that Cairo does not want to hear
negative reports on Mr. Hosni's candidacy, as the Egyptians have
worked very hard for the past year to try to make Mr. Hosni's
election seem inevitable. Concerns about Mr. Hosni now being
expressed by key countries are clearly making the Egyptian Ambassador
very nervous, which is why Ambassador Yamamoto ended his conversation
with Ambassador Oliver by saying he was starting to feel sorry for
the Egyptian Ambassador.

ENGELKEN