9/24 ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS MINISTERIAL MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000814

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

IO FOR S/E CUMBER; IO/PPC-AMORRISON; DRL/IRF; DRL/MLA; P, R

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/05/2018
TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF KISL SP TU
SUBJECT: 9/24 ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS MINISTERIAL MEETING

REF: A. 08 STATE 62006

B. 07 STATE 171224

C. 06 STATE 24218

D. ANKARA 1113

E. KUALA LUMPUR 775

Classified By: AMBASSADOR ALEJANDRO D. WOLFF, REASONS 1.4(B)(D)


1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 4
below.


2. (U) Ambassador Khalilzad has been invited to attend the
ministerial level meeting on September 24 of the Alliance of
Civilizations Group of Friends. Details about the September
24 meeting, its agenda and objections, can be found under
Shared Documents on the USUN SharePoint site:
http://p.state.sbu/sites/USUN/UNGA/plenary.as px. The Friends
intend to exchange views on the prospects of the AOC over the
next five years, and receive information about two upcoming
meetings -- the first Focal Points meeting in Paris on
October 2-3, 2008, and the Second Forum of the AOC in
Istanbul on April 2-3, 2009. The Group of Friends includes
over 70 countries and a dozen intergovernmental
organizations, such as the Council of Europe, the European
Commission, the OIC and the Arab League.


3. (C) USUN notes that Ref A instructed USUN not to attend
the June 10 meeting of the AOC Group of Friends, based on
reasoning connected to the Department's dissatisfaction with
language in a report issued in 2006 by a Group of Experts now
disbanded. Per ref B, which authorized the US Ambassador to
Spain to attend the First AOC Forum in Madrid in January
2008, the US applauded the AOC's efforts to "build bridges
between cultures and nations" and looked forward to
"continued close cooperation" with the foreign minister of
Spain in that regard. Ref B identified a US public diplomacy
program which is in line with the goals of the AOC, per
Secretary Rice's letter to Spanish FM contained in Ref C.
USUN has been aware of high-level efforts, by former U/S for
Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes and others, to try to counter
the perception of US and western antagonism towards Islam and
its adherents. Ref D and E outline the efforts of the
newly-appointed Special Envoy to the Organization of the
Islamic Conference, Sada Cumber, to dispel the notion of a
"clash of civilizations" with influential Muslim officials in
Turkey and Malaysia, among other Islamic countries. Ref E
mentions the intention of the Secretary to host an Iftar
dinner in New York in September to commemorate Ramadan.


4. (C) Comment and Action Request: USUN views participation
in AOC Group of Friends meetings as consistent with the goal
of improving relations between the Islamic and Western
worlds, which has been held out publicly as an objective. We
find it hard to explain to others our unwillingness to take
part in AOC discussions in light of these efforts.
Department please advise whether Ambassador Khalilzad may
accept President Sampaio's invitation to attend and observe
the ministerial-level meeting of the Group of Friends of the
Alliance of Civilizations on September 24 on the margins of
the General Assembly.
Khalilzad