URUGUAY: FM LAUDS BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP,

C O N F I D E N T I A L MONTEVIDEO 000078

SIPDIS

FOR WHA/BSC MARY DASCHBACH
WH PLEASE PASS USTR KATE DUCKWORTH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS TBIO UY
SUBJECT: URUGUAY: FM LAUDS BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP,
PRESIDENT MAY MISS SUMMIT OF AMERICAS

REF: A. STATE 8206

B. 08 MVD 0695 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES ROBIN MATTHEWMAN, FOR REASON 1.4 (B)

Summary
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1. (C) Getting to know officials in the new U.S.
administration and helping them understand Uruguay's
excellent relationship with the U.S. is a priority for
President Vazquez during his last year in office, Foreign
Minister Gonzalo Fernandez told the Charge February 6.
Complicating that challenge is Vazquez's likely absence from
April's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, as he
will need to be in Montevideo to welcome UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon to a GOU-sponsored conference on peacekeeping.
Fernandez expressed a hope that President Vazquez could
instead travel to Washington sometime after the Summit to
meet with President Obama, although Fernandez acknowledged
that such a meeting would be difficult to arrange so early in
the Administration. The Charge took the opportunity to
inform Fernandez of a number of promising areas of
cooperation, from joint Antarctic and cancer research to
biofuels and disaster relief. End Summary.

Uruguay and the Summit
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2. (C) Charge Matthewman called on FM Fernandez February 6 to
deliver messages of greeting from President Obama to
President Vazquez and from the Secretary to Fernandez, and to
discuss Uruguay's participation in the April 17-19 Summit of
the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. Fernandez began the
meeting by remarking that he and President Vazquez had
recently been strategizing about the best way to inform Obama
administration officials about Uruguay's excellent
relationship with the U.S. When the Charge noted that the
Summit would be a superb opportunity, Fernandez agreed but
explained that Vazquez was likely unable to attend, owing to
pre-existing obligations. As of now, the GOU is planning to
send Vice President Nin Novoa to head Uruguay's Summit
delegation.


3. (C) Those obligations include a long-planned international
conference on peacekeeping that is to take place in
Montevideo April 20-21. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is
scheduled to give the keynote address at the conference, and
President Vazquez insists on being in Uruguay to greet and
host him, according to Fernandez. Fernandez said the
peacekeeping conference is especially important because it
should give Uruguay worldwide exposure as a serious country,
and also keep foreign policy elevated as a GOU priority as
Uruguay dives headfirst into election season. In addition,
Vazquez is scheduled to travel to Costa Rica April 23-24, and
from there to Russia to meet an obligation that he has been
putting off for over a year, Fernandez said.


4. (C) Fernandez mentioned that Vazquez would be very
interested in traveling to the U.S. in late April or early
May, if a meeting with President Obama could be arranged.
The Charge promised to look into it, but highlighted the
difficulties involved. Fernandez acknowledged the challenge
in trying to organize a meeting with President Obama this
year outside the context of the Summit. He ended the
discussion by saying: "Even if President Vazquez is unable to
go to Trinidad, nothing will have changed. We need to keep
the relationship good."

Moving Forward: Focus on Trade
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5. (C) Fernandez told the Charge that President Vazquez and
he are "preoccupied" with finding the best way forward in the
bilateral relationship, particularly with regard to trade.
He said the Vazquez administration is committed to working
until its last day, in March 2010, but presidential elections
in October 2009 probably mark the end of the administration's
ability to push any new initiatives. With that in mind,
Fernandez continued, any forward movement in trade should
occur by the end of October. The Charge recommended that we
continue our work on an e-Commerce protocol and other
commercial discussions under our bilateral Trade and

Investment Framework Agreement. Fernandez agreed, and
indicated that he would shortly touch base with the bilateral
trade official who has been working the issue.

Highlighting Bilateral Cooperation
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6. (SBU) The Charge also outlined the progress we are making
on a number of other issues. Our Antarctic cooperation is
flourishing, with three U.S. scientists, including Dr. Chuck
Kennicutt, head of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic
Research (SCAR),traveling this month for research on
Uruguay's Artigas Base. Our National Cancer Institute
selected Uruguay as one of five Latin American countries --
the others were Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile -- with
which to begin research partnerships, and a first group of
Uruguayan doctors is traveling to the U.S. for that program
in March. We are following up a bilateral alternative energy
MOU signed in 2008 by working with the GOU and with a private
U.S. company (Weyerhouser - 2008 finalist for the Secretary's
award for corporate social responsibility) to build GOU
awareness of Uruguay's immense cellulosic biofuels potential,
the realization of which could improve hemispheric energy
security while reducing Uruguay's output of greenhouse gases.
And we have been helping Uruguay deal with the effects of a
devastating drought. USSOUTHCOM, using Humanitarian
Assistance Program funds, donated four helicopter-borne Bambi
Buckets to help the GOU fight forest fires. That donation,
and saturation media coverage of the buckets' use by the
Uruguayan Air Force, generated an enormous amount of good
will locally. Fernandez expressed satisfaction at the extent
of new bilateral initiatives.

Comment
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7. (C) Our engagement with this Uruguayan leftist
administration has been a success. We will continue to
expand our collaboration in the scientific, economic, energy,
disaster relief, and peacekeeping realms to reinforce those
gains. With the clock ticking on President Vazquez's term in
office, Fernandez also appears focused on the big-picture
aspects of the bilateral relationship, growing animated as he
considered how to get the presidents together or move forward
on trade. End Comment.
Matthewman