SPANISH PERMREP PAYS INTRODUCTORY CALL ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000239

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV MINURSO SP
SUBJECT: SPANISH PERMREP PAYS INTRODUCTORY CALL ON
AMBASSADOR RICE


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Spanish Permrep Juan Antonio
Yanez-Barnuevo reviewed Spain's UN priorities in a March 9
introductory meeting with Ambassador Rice. He observed that
the Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations set to take
place in Istanbul on April 6-7 would coincide with President
Obama's trip to Europe, and he hoped that President Obama
would be able to attend the Forum. Ambassador Yanez-Barnuevo
welcomed the prospect of United States participation in the
Human Rights Council, and said also that Spain would be a
candidate for the HRC in 2010. He pledged Spanish support
for the SYG's Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara,
Christopher Ross, and hoped that Ross would be able to make
progress in relations not only between Morocco and Polisario,
but also between Morocco and Algeria. He expressed
satisfaction with the High-Level Meeting on Food Security for
All that had taken place in Madrid in late January, but he
said the disparate organizations working the issue would need
to present an attractive package in order to attract leaders
to a Food Summit in Autumn 2009, as had been proposed by FAO
Director-General Diouf at the Madrid meeting. The Spanish
Permrep also described Spain's efforts, as a co-chair of the
General Assembly's system-wide coherence effort, to build
consensus around a new UN gender architecture. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Spanish Permrep Juan Antonia Yanez-Barnuevo paid an
introductory call on Ambassador Rice on March 9, 2009 and
outlined his UN priorities. At the outset, Yanez-Barnuevo,
delivered a letter from the Foreign Minister of Spain, Miguel
Angel Moratinos, seeking the participation of the United
States in the Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations
to be held in Istanbul on April 6-7. Yanez-Barnuevo told
Rice he was happy to hear that President Obama would be
visiting Turkey as part of his early April European trip, and
said he hoped that the President would consider attending the
Forum.


3. (SBU) Yanez-Barnuevo also offered his support for the new
UN Personal Envoy of the SYG for Western Sahara, Christopher
Ross, who had returned to New York after a trip to the
region. Yanez Barnuevo hoped that Ross' good-offices could
"break the log-jam" in the negotiations over the Western
Sahara. He thought Ross could usefully help to build
confidence between Morocco and the Polisario, but also should
try to further the bilateral relationship between Morocco and
Algeria outside the context of Western Sahara's status.


4. (SBU) Turning to the High-Level Meeting on Food Security
for All held in Madrid on January 26-27, 2009, Yanez-Barnuevo
expressed satisfaction that it had succeeded in creating a
task force that included the whole UN system together with
NGOs and private entities, and that the U.S. had decided to
join the effort as well. Commenting on the proposal by the
Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization for
a food summit in Fall, 2009, Yanez-Barnuevo acknowledged that
the task force needed to be ready with a package of proposals
that would attract leaders. He did not know if the EU had
taken a position on the proposed summit.


5. (SBU) Yanez-Barnuevo acknowledged the United States'
review of its engagement in the Human Rights Council, and
said Spain would like to see the U.S. in the council. He
noted that Spain, which lost a 2008 bid for one of two seats
by one vote to the United Kingdom and France, was running
again for a seat in 2010, but that so far there were only two
announced candidates for the two seats.


6. (SBU) Ambassador Yanez-Barnuevo also outlined Spain's
efforts, as a co-chair of the General Assembly's system-wide
coherence initiative, to create a new "gender architecture"
in the UN from the many disparate offices and agencies that
currently address gender issues. Ambassador Rice expressed
support for this effort and said reforming the UN's gender
office would be an early priority of hers. Referring to an
ongoing discussion among member states about whether to
create the new gender office within the Secretariat or
whether to make it an autonomous fund or program (for
example, like UNICEF or UNDP),Rice asked Yanez-Barnuevo for
his views on a "composite entity", that would contain
elements of both options. Yanez-Barnuevo said a composite
entity would need have both operational and normative
pillars. He thought the operational pillar could be in the
mold of UNIFEM, which is working well in the field. It would
need to retain sufficient autonomy, flexibility and
accountability to do what needs to be done in the field.
Yanez-Barnuevo expressed some frustration by efforts of some
GA members from the G-77 to "put the brakes on" reform of the
gender architecture, by tying it with other issues (e.g.,
Security Council Reform). He thought that tying issues
together was "a recipe for paralysis" in the system-wide
coherence effort.

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