ECONOMY MINISTER SAFADI OPTIMISTIC ON GROWTH

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 000122 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2020 TAGS: ETRD ECON PREL PGOV EAID MEPI KIPR LE SUBJECT: ECONOMY MINISTER SAFADI OPTIMISTIC ON GROWTH POTENTIAL REF: BEIRUT 118 Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This message is an action request. Please see paragraph 3. ¶2. (C) Summary: In a February 5 meeting with the Ambassador, Minister of Economy and Trade Mohammed Safadi requested assistance in setting up meetings during his private March 7-14 trip to Washington. The prime minister, president, and speaker of parliament had reached an agreement, Safadi reported, to move forward legislation that had been submitted to parliament by the previous cabinet, including several bills important to World Trade Organization (WTO) accession and intellectual property rights (IPR). Safadi expressed optimism about the country's economic growth potential and sought U.S. support to revitalize the railway between northern Lebanon and the south. Safadi reported reduced tensions between the Alawite and Sunni communities in Tripoli and discussed his plans improve relations with regional Christian opposition leader Suleiman Franjieh. Safadi also described his Safadi Foundation USA's expanding role in lobbying on behalf of Lebanese non-governmental organizations who seek support and funding from the United States. End summary. REQUEST FOR MEETINGS -------------- ¶3. (C) Minister of Economy and Trade Mohammed Safadi, during a February 5 meeting with the Ambassador, requested Embassy assistance in setting up meetings during his private March 7-12 trip to Washington. (Note: He will also be meeting with his philanthropic Safadi Foundation USA office while there. See para. 8. End Note.) Safadi said he would speak at the Wilson Center and at the U.S. Institute for Peace to raise awareness about his Safadi Foundation USA, but he requested meetings from March 9-11 at USTR, TDA, State Department, USAID, and other government agencies. Safadi's list of requests included Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell, Undersecretary for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Director Timothy Andrews, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, USAID Special Assistant George Laudato, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the Ex-Im Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. Trade Development Agency (USTDA),the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR),and various Congressional members. We suggest that the Department prioritize meetings at USTR and the Department of Commerce, as well as a stop at USTDA, in order to discuss Lebanon's WTO accession and a possible TDA transportation sector feasibility study. WTO LEGISLATION UNJAMMED? -------------- ¶4. (C) Safadi divulged that Prime Minister Saad Hariri, President Michel Sleiman, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri recently agreed on a "new way out" for pending bills that had been approved by the old government, including significant legislation for WTO accession and on IPR issues, that would be revealed in a "week or two." (Note: IPR draft laws pending parliamentary approval include the geographic indications law, trademark law, and the industrial designs law. For WTO, the international trade and licensing law is awaiting approval, as well as the general food law and the law on animal quarantine. End note.) He had initiated a "big drive" in the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MOET) on IPR issues, Safadi noted, in order to enforce IPR protection "all over" the country. Safadi told the Ambassador he had sent a letter to "Dahiyeh" (Hizballah) threatening to cease IPR enforcement activities in the entire country if the party prevented the MOET from working in Hizballah-controlled areas. If Hizballah refused his demand, Safadi threatened to cancel all MOET enforcement efforts and point his finger publicly at Hizballah's intransigence. Separately, Safadi discussed with the USAID Director pending memorandums of understanding (MOU) for the newest phase of the USAID-supported WTO accession project and the Quality Control and Certification Program (QCC). Both MOUs are still under negotiation. PLANS TO GENERATE ECONOMIC GROWTH -------------- ¶5. (C) Safadi expressed optimism that the new government, unlike its hamstrung predecessors, "would be able to do things" and reported positive signs of growth throughout the country. Citizens, "fed up" with politics, demanded progress on "real life" issues, such as jobs, infrastructure, and economic growth, he said. The minister asked if U.S. provisions of wheat under the U.S. Department of Agriculture program started in Lebanon in 2006 would continue. ¶6. (C) PM Hariri had blessed his proposal to restore the railway between northern and southern Lebanon, Safadi said. If the cabinet approved an economic feasibility study, he explained, it should also approve a cost study. The economic feasibility study, Safadi proposed, might be done in conjunction with USTDA. He stated that he had raised the topic, as well, with the French Development Agency during Hariri's January visit to Paris. The proposed railway, Safadi underscored, would link the country from north to south into one economic unit to open economic possibilities throughout the country. RECONCILIATION IN THE NORTH -------------- ¶7. (C) Tensions had eased in his Tripoli hometown, Safadi noted, after he initiated talks with the small Alawite population in the Jebl Mohsen area that regularly clashed with Tripoli's Sunni majority. Safadi also described a recent lunch with Christian opposition leader Suleiman Franjieh -- from the northern city of Zgharta -- and detailed his plan to organize a "big to-do" for Franjieh in Tripoli sometime after the February 14 commemoration of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's assassination. Safadi claimed that he had been out of town during the January 31 meeting of the March 14 coalition (reftel),and he confirmed that he would attend the February 14 commemoration event, which he hoped would be a "unifying" event to which all political parties were invited. SAFADI USA EXPANDING -------------- ¶8. (C) Describing the Safadi Foundation USA, of which he is honorary president, the Minister explained that the foundation represented all of Lebanon, not just a certain political grouping or geographic region. The goal of the Safadi Foundation USA, founded only eleven months before, was to lobby on behalf of all Lebanese NGOs seeking U.S. funding, Safadi alleged, in return for those NGOs supporting Safadi Foundation work in Lebanon. The Safadi Foundation USA would host cultural events to raise its profile in the United States, he said. (Note: The Tunis regional MEPI office approved a $50,000 grant in July 2009 for the Safadi Foundation to provide entrepreneurship training to 50 women from the old city of Tripoli. The project started in October 2009 and will run until September 2010, indirectly affecting more than 400 families. End note.) SISON