KOSOVO: DOMINICANS SEEK RIO GROUP CONSENSUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 000295 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR AND EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2018 TAGS: PREL UN UNMIK YI EU KV DR SUBJECT: KOSOVO: DOMINICANS SEEK RIO GROUP CONSENSUS REF: A. SANTO DOMINGO 0231 ¶B. SANTO DOMINGO 0251 ¶C. SANTO DOMINGO 0289 ¶D. STATE 17891 Classified By: P. Robert Fannin, Ambassador, Reasons 1.4(b),(d) ¶1. (C) As reported in Refs A-C, Foreign Minister Morales informed the Ambassador on February 15 that, regarding Kosovo's independence, the Dominican Republic would support the United States' position. On February 20, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Trullols told the Ambassador that final decisions regarding Dominican plans for recognition were pending a conversation between Morales and President Fernandez. ¶2. (C) On February 25, Morales replied to Ref D demarche, noting that the Dominicans will host the Rio Group summit March 4-7. The Foreign Minister said that Bolivia opposes recognition of Kosovo and that the Colombia-Nicaragua territorial dispute could be affected by a possible Kosovo precedent. In this context, Morales said, it would be problematic for the Dominican Republic to act without a Rio Group consensus. When the Ambassador asked if a discussion of Kosovo would be part of the summit's program, Morales replied it would probably not be on the agenda because a discussion of Kosovo would make it too difficult to discuss "non-political" issues such as energy, climate changes, and natural disaster mitigation. (Note: It is not clear whether or not the Foreign Minister had discussed Kosovo with President Fernandez prior to speaking with the Ambassador.) (U) This report and additional information can be found on Embassy Santo Domingo's SIPRNET site, http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ FANNIN