NORWAY DEPUTY FM ON HIGH NORTH DIALOGUE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OSLO 000637 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/NB TSELINGER; OES/OPA:JGOURLEY; SCA/A:HENSHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS AF NO SUBJECT: NORWAY DEPUTY FM ON HIGH NORTH DIALOGUE, AFGHANISTAN, AND CABINET RESHUFFLE REF: A: OSLO 636 B: OSLO 635 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., James T. Heg for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Charge d'Affaires a.i. James Heg, Acting DCM Cherrie Daniels, and Norway/Sweden Desk Officer Thomas Selinger met on October 16 with MFA State Secretary (Deputy Foreign Minister-equivalent) Elisabeth Walaas to discuss U.S.-Norway cooperation on a range of foreign policy issues. Walaas' portfolio includes the Arctic/High North, NATO, as well as climate and environmental policy. She plans to lead the Norwegian delegation to an interagency High North Dialogue with the USG in Washington, DC, details of which Norway has proposed to EUR and OES. Walaas offered her views on the pending GON ministerial reshuffle, the future of Norway's military and civilian involvement in Afghanistan, and Norway's priorities for cooperation with the USG on follow-up to the May 2009 Arctic Council Ministerial in Tromso. She also shared her perceptions of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE SPECULATION -------------- ¶2. (C) Responding to our question about speculation regarding the composition of PM Stoltenberg's new cabinet (Ref A), Walaas said, "It's entirely up in the air. We don't know; only the Prime Minister himself knows" how this will turn out. She commented that the cabinet generally must be composed with the gender and geographic background of the ministers, as well as their qualifications, taken into account. Therefore, assembling the cabinet is akin to assembling a puzzle. The outcome of the internal governing coalition's cabinet negotiations should be clear by sometime the week of October 19, in her view. The new cabinet, once decided, must be endorsed in a session between the government and the King and such audiences only occur on Fridays, unless a rare special session of the King in Council is held. (Over the weekend, the press speculated that there will indeed be such a mid-week session and that the cabinet will therefore likely be announced before Friday, October 22.) ¶3. (C) Beginning with the caveat that she was only offering her own speculation, Walaas said there were "strong forces internally" within the Labor Party (AP) which would push Stoere toward the newly vacant minister of health position, as had been rumored in the press. (A major national newspaper reported over the weekend of October 17-18 that while negotiations are still ongoing, FM Jonas Gahr Stoere is likely to retain his post, as will Environment and International Development Minister Erik Solheim.) Walaas said Stoere clearly and unequivocally wants to continue to be Foreign Minister. "I know this is his wish," she said. But, sh continued, the Labor Party has lately lost many strong politicians and cabinet ministers to leading positions in the parliament, leaving the government with fewer good choices of capable people to implement the many challenging domestic agenda items. She said that to her knowledge as of Friday, not even Stoere knew his fate. HIGH NORTH DIALOGUE - AREAS FOR COOPERATION WITH THE USG -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Asked for her thoughts on how the U.S. and Norway could cooperate on the range of Arctic/High North issues, Walaas referred to conclusions from the May 2009 Arctic Council Ministerial in Tromso, in which there were a whole list of objectives to pursue, some bilaterally with the U.S. and others multilaterally with the other Arctic states. She specifically highlighted following up on Search and Rescue agreements and resources, establishing an IMO framework agreement dealing with Arctic shipping, and building on the five Arctic coastal nations' agreement that the UN Convention Law of the Sea would be the necessary (but not entirely sufficient) basis for resolving outstanding border matters. State Secretary Walaas also said that whenever a High North Dialogue with EUR, OES and others is scheduled -- hopefully this fall -- it will be important to exchange views on security policy issues such as the role and intentions of Russia, as well as to discuss enhanced Norwegian cooperation with the USG on the western Balkans in light of stepped up U.S. engagement in that arena -- which Norway sees as extremely positive. AFGHANISTAN - NORWAY WILL STAY IN MEYMANEH -------------- OSLO 00000637 002 OF 002 ¶5. (C) Walaas said that Norway was "stretched to maximum capacity" in terms of troops deployed in Afghanistan, but was in the process of increasing its police training personnel. She emphasized that Norway seeks to implement a comprehensive policy with a long term perspective and is constantly evaluating whether its efforts are moving things in the right direction. This evaluation is conducted continuously and concurrently by the Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Justice Ministries. The Norwegian public is paying more attention to Afghanistan now than it was a few months ago, and she could imagine that public opinion might become an even more difficult issue depending on the evolution of the situation on the ground. She specifically mentioned that the pending Afghan election results could be a "critical factor." While the GON had not been expecting an "A4" election (meaning standard, cleancut, and predictable),the elections may have significantly weakened the Afghan government instead of strengthening it. Walaas also noted concern that the UN mission in Afghanistan may itself have been weakened as a result of the Kai Eide/Peter Galbraith conflict. ¶6. (C) We asked for Walaas' thoughts on the debate in the Norwegian media over a line in the GON's 2010 budget presentation to parliament on October 13. (See other aspects of the 2010 defense budget proposal in Ref B.) The line in question called for bringing home Norwegian infantry troops from Meymaneh (Faryab province) by the middle of 2010, as part of Norway's (and ISAF's) strategy to focus on training, advising, and cooperating with Afghan security forces. Walaas referred to Defense Minister Stroem-Erichsen's public statements that she "would have preferred that the sentence not be in the budget" because "it is clear that the circumstances will not allow for this (withdrawal)." Walaas added that Stroem-Erichsen visited Norwegian troops in Afghanistan after the initial draft of the budget was complete, and has said publicly in the days since October 13 that she would have taken out the sentence. Continued funding for Norwegian military operations in Afghanistan beyond mid-2010 will not be affected by the sentence, Walaas assured us; funds will come by means of a supplemental appropriation, if need be. OBAMA'S PEACE PRIZE: THE U.S. IS "BACK" -------------- ¶7. (C) Walaas said her first thought upon hearing that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize was, "Oh, poor man! He already has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and now this!" She added that after she heard the committee's justification of its decision, she came to the conclusion that the awarding of the Prize to Obama was "fully in line with the history of the Prize, to encourage progress" toward peace. She said she interpreted the Nobel Committee's selection of Obama as a consequence of, and evidence that, "the U.S. is back at the core of things" internationally. HEG