MEXICO ON KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE

UNCLAS MEXICO 000459 SIPDIS EUR/SCE FOR SEIJI T. SHIRATORI/WILLIAM TOMLYANOVICH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL AORC ICJ KV MX SUBJECT: MEXICO ON KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE REF: A. STATE 11928 ¶B. 08 STATE 2728 ¶1. Deputy PolCouns approached Julian Juarez Cardenas, the Deputy Director General for UN-Related Security and Legal Issues at the Foreign Ministry, to urge Mexico to consider recognizing Kosovo. Juarez responded that Mexico's position on Kosovo had not changed. Mexico assigned great importance to the UNSC resolution which had asserted a decision on the status of Kosovo should emerge as the product of consensus between Serbia and Kosovo. ¶2. Separately, Congressman Eliot Engel, the Subcommittee Chairman of the House's Western Hemisphere Affairs Committee, raised Kosovo in a meeting with President Calderon on 2/18. Calderon made no commitment but said that he would take another look at Mexico's position on Kosovo. We have no reason to expect Mexico will change its position on Kosovo in the near term future. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / BASSETT