CUBA HOSTS FINAL NAM MINISTERIAL OF ITS PRESIDENCY

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000283

NON ALIGNED MOVEMENT COLLECTIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO NAM COLLECTIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2013
TAGS: PREL
SUBJECT: CUBA HOSTS FINAL NAM MINISTERIAL OF ITS PRESIDENCY

Classified By: COM Jonathan Farrar for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) April 28-30, Cuba played host for a reported 60
minister-level participants in its last act in the NAM chair
before Egypt takes over. As might be expected from this
group in this venue, the ministerial was long on
rhetoric--including lavish praise for the host government and
criticism of the U.S. as the source of the world financial
crisis--and short on any substantive proposals for action by
the members. Perhaps the most important announcement was the
acceptance by the representatives present of Iran as the
venue for the 16th NAM Summit, which will be held in 2012.
The final decision on the venue will be made at the next
heads of state meeting to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt,
from July 11-16, 2010.


2. (U) According to the Cuban press, the ministers produced
an outcome document containing three major resolutions: one
calling for solidarity among the third world countries in the
face of the world financial crisis in preparation for the
June meeting in the UN on the subject, the second expressing
the solidarity of NAM members for Mexico as it confronts the
H1N1 flu epidemic, and finally a resolution expressing
solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and calling for the
lifting of sanctions against that nation.


3. (U) Cuban President Raul Castro addressed the plenum and
made one noteworthy comment when he described recent policy
changes announced by the President as "minimal" and said that
Cuba had never done anything to harm the United States and
therefore is not the one that has to make "gestures."


4. (C) COMMENT: USINT spoke with several locally-based
diplomats who had attended the sessions and all agreed that
nothing of importance had come out of the meeting. The
general feeling was that the NAM continues to be rudderless
since the collapse of the Soviet Union undercut its raison
d'etre, and is now mostly an opportunity for like-minded
governments to make long-winded propaganda statements. Raul
seemed to be at pains to use his remarks to demonstrate that
there is no space between him and brother Fidel on the issues
of improving relations with the U.S. However, he also seemed
to be walking back from his own earlier statements that
improvement in relations with the US must be done on a basis
of equality "matching gesture with gesture."
FARRAR