FRENCH ENGAGEMENT WITH IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000454

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2024
TAGS: PGOV PREL FR IZ
SUBJECT: FRENCH ENGAGEMENT WITH IRAQ

REF: STATE 21447

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Kathleen H. Allegrone, reas
ons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Amid a flurry of high level visits,
relations between France and Iraq continue to improve.
Although the GOF is eager to see French companies participate
in the reconstruction of Iraq's infrastructure, French
enterprises have been cautious due to their lingering
security concerns. There is little appetite at the MFA for
any new effort to promote regional cooperation. End summary.

Status of Relations
--------------


2. (C) French relations with Iraq, which were frigid after
2003 under former President Chirac, have grown steadily
warmer since President Sarkozy took office. FM Kouchner
visited Iraq twice (in August 2007 and June 2008) before
Sarkozy himself traveled to Baghdad on February 9, 2009.
Within days of Sarkozy's visit, French External Commerce
Minister Anne-Marie Idrac visited Baghdad as well. More
recently, three Iraqi ministers (oil, defense and interior)
visited Paris on March 24-25. Both Iraqi vice presidents
will visit Paris separately in April and will be followed by
Prime Minister Maliki in May. French PM Fillon is expected
to lead a French commercial delegation to Baghdad in June.
Finally, President Talabani will visit France in November.



3. (C) During the March 24 visit mentioned above, Oil
Minister Shahristani and French Finance Minister Christine
Lagarde presided over the first session of a new France-Iraqi
joint economic commission. The two sides signed an accord on
training Iraqi engineers dealing with the water sector in
Baghdad, a framework agreement on investment insurance and an
accord on establishing a joint commission for business
leaders. In addition, the two sides reached agreements on
funding feasibility studies and on allowing Iraqi companies
to participate in French business fairs and expositions.

Obstacles to Improving Relations
--------------


4. (C) Although France has forgiven 80 percent of Iraq's
Paris Club debt, French authorities have not yet unfrozen
some 20 million euros worth of frozen GOI assets. Over the
past three years, the GOF has maintained that it needs new
legislative authority in order to release the frozen funds,
but there has been little or no effort to get the French
parliament to pass such legislation. PM Maliki is expected
to raise the frozen assets during his visit to Paris in May.
The more important obstacle to improved relations is perhaps
the reluctance of French companies to pursue business
opportunities in Iraq given their lingering security
concerns.

Existing Initiatives
--------------


5. (C) France participates in EUJUST LEX (an EU rule of law
training program) and has supported that program's expansion.
France plans to open consulates in Basrah and Erbil (where
its existing regional office will become the nucleus of the
new consulate). In addition, the MFA plans to expand the
French embassy in Baghdad to include defense and agricultural
attaches, but those plans are moving slowly given current
space limitations at the embassy. The French are working
with the Iraqi MFA to identify a site for a new, larger
embassy. Although the French MFA spokesperson on March 26
alluded to the possibility of France training Iraqi security
officials, we have no details of any such agreement.
However, MFA sources have recently reaffirmed their
long-standing reluctance to contemplate a role for France in
the NATO Training Mission -- Iraq (NTM-I). It is more likely
that France would offer training to the Iraqi security forces
on a bilateral basis with an eye toward concluding new arms
sales.

New Regional Cooperation Forum
--------------


6. (C) Franck Gellet, MFA DAS-equivalent for Iran and Iraq,
offered a characteristically blunt response when asked how
the GOF would view a new regional cooperation forum: "My
advice is to give the Iraqis some breathing space. I know
this is difficult for you -- you want to help them -- but you
take too many initiatives, and it's difficult for you to
understand where the Iraqis are psychologically because they
still see you as an occupying power. Let them come to you

PARIS 00000454 002 OF 002


when they need your help." Gellet suggested that the U.S.
adopt an indirect approach to promoting Iraq's relations with
its neighbors, so that any new ideas would not be directly
attributable to Washington. "Be as subliminal as possible.
We have to do the same thing with Lebanon, Syria and
Algeria," said Gellet, who added that France's colonial
history weighed on relations with all three countries.
Gellet hinted that the French MFA would be reluctant to join
in any new cooperative forum, saying that he preferred a
bilateral approach to working with Iraq.

PEKALA