OMAN WILL NOT SIGN AMENDMENT TO BASE ACCESS AGREEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L MUSCAT 000697 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/07/06 TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS MU SUBJECT: OMAN WILL NOT SIGN AMENDMENT TO BASE ACCESS AGREEMENT CLASSIFIED BY: Victor Hurtado, Charge, Department of State, Embassy Muscat; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) Colonel Salim Bin Nasser al-Salmi, the Office Director for the Undersecretary of Defense H.E. Mohamed bin Nassir bin Mohamed Al-Rasby, told Embassy OMC officials on July 6 that Oman will not sign the amendment to the Base Access Agreement (BAA) that would change the percentage distribution of USG payments from the current distribution, which allocates 70% of the payments to the Ministry of Finance and 30% to the Ministry of Defense, to a 50/50 split. Instead, they would discuss the change as part of the upcoming BAA 2010 renewal negotiations. He noted that this decision had been discussed with Royal Air Force of Oman Brig Gen Hassan Khamis bin Mohamed Al-Ajmi, Director General of Logistics. ¶2. (C) Comment: As this amendment was the response to an Omani request, Embassy sees no need for further USG action at this time. End Comment. HURTADO