Secretary Clinton's March 31, 2009 conversation

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARTO 041304 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/31/2019 TAGS: OVIP PREL PHUM NL AF SUBJECT: Secretary Clinton's March 31, 2009 conversation with Dutch PM Balkenende ¶1. (U) Classified by: Paul Wohlers, Deputy Executive Secretary, S/ES, Department of State. Reason 1.4(b,d). ¶2. (U) March 31, 2009; 10:25 a.m.; The Hague, Netherlands. ¶3. (U) Participants: U.S. The Secretary Deputy Secretary Lew SRAP Holbrooke A/S Fried Ms. Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary Mr. Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary Mr. Falls (Embassy Notetaker) NETHERLANDS PM Balkenende Mr. Karel van Oosterom, Senior Adviser to the PM Mr. Robert de Groot, Deputy DG for Political Affairs, MFA ¶4. (C) SUMMARY. In a short meeting on the margins of the March 31 "International Conference on Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Strategy in a Regional Context" in The Hague, the Secretary and Dutch PM Balkenende reviewed Afghanistan, the NATO summit, the G20 Summit in London, and the "NY 400" celebration commemorating Henry Hudson's trip to the New World and founding of the first Dutch colony. END SUMMARY. ¶5. (C) Afghanistan - The Secretary thanked Balkenende for Dutch efforts to host the conference and thanked him also for the Netherlands' "great work" in Uruzgan. She was glad Balkenende had seen Pakistan's FM Qureshi. Pakistan is trying to look internally, rather than at India, in addressing security and political concerns. PM Balkenende said the new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan was "a great help." ¶6. (C) NATO Summit - The Secretary noted that she separately had urged France and Denmark to engage Turkey to resolve Turkish concerns over France's rejoining of NATO's military structures, and over Danish PM Rasmussen serving as the new NATO Secretary General. Balkenende noted he hoped to meet with President Obama during the April 3-4 NATO summit. ¶7. (C) G20 Summit - Balkenende thanked the Secretary for supporting the Netherlands' participation in London. The Secretary responded, "You deserve to be there. It's not a gift." ¶8. (C) NY 400 - Balkenende noted the events in New York would receive a lot of publicity. He hoped the President would participate. The Secretary said "we're very excited" about the events. CLINTON