SPANISH PARTICIPATION IN PRAGUE PRT CONFERENCE

UNCLAS MADRID 000062 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR DERECK HOGAN, S/RAP PRAGUE FOR JOHN LAW KABUL PLEASE PASS TO STATE AND USAID REPS AT PRT QAL-E-NOW E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL NATO EAID KPAO AF SP SUBJECT: SPANISH PARTICIPATION IN PRAGUE PRT CONFERENCE JANUARY 25-27 REF: STATE 3595 ¶1. (SBU) Post conveyed reftel invitation and talking points to key contacts at Spanish Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs the week of January 11, and learned that Spain will be represented by the civilian team leader from its provincial reconstruction team and possibly by local embassy staff. According to Cristobal Ramon Valdes Valentin-Gamazo, Head of the Department of Cooperation with Asian and Eastern Europe within Spain's Agency for Cooperation and International Development (AECID),Spain will be represented by the civilian representative at the Spanish-run PRT in Qal-e-Now, Badghis Province, Regional Command-West. Borja Morate, also described as Spain's Political Advisor to the PRT, is a well respected career diplomat (the second in this role) who was posted to Afghanistan in September 2009. Morate works closely with USG reps at the Spanish PRT and reports regularly to Spain's embassy in Kabul and to the MFA's Asia and cooperation/foreign assistance offices. ¶2. (SBU) Defense Minister Carme Chacon's schedule will not permit her to attend the conference, according to contacts close to the minister. The invitation was brought informally to the attention of USDP-equivalent Luis Cuesta on or around January 13. Cuesta was not invited in his own right and Chacon, who was, is unlikely to send an alternate at this time. According to MFA Subdirector General for Continental Asia Jose Luis Garcia Galan, Spanish S/RAP-equivalent Special Ambassador for Afghanistan and Pakistan Rafael Mendivil is also unlikely to attend the conference. Mendivil will be directly involved in the lead-up to the January 28 London conference for Afghanistan donors, and Spain has no Deputy S/RAP equivalent. Garcia Galan and other working-level contacts at Defense and Foreign Affairs were grateful for information about the conference but did not seem to have been briefed prior to our encouraging senior-level participation. Defense policy staff further indicated January 15 they were otherwise occupied with the management of military and civilian aircraft bearing humanitarian relief for Haiti and would be unable focus attention on the Prague conference. Our contacts further confirmed January 21 that no one from the Spanish MOD will attend, saying MFA has the lead. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: Spanish presence and participation in this conference is important to our bilateral and multilateral agenda in Spain. According to the Defense Minister's Special Advisor for International Affairs, however, the original invitation letter appeared to come directly from the Executive Director of the Prague Security Studies Institute and was only addressed to Minister Chacon herself. Our defense contacts told us they assumed it was "just another think-tank conference on Afghanistan" and did not realize that the USG was so deeply involved in its organization. While it would not have made a difference with the Minister's schedule, they informed us they would have focused on considering an MOD or other GOS representative had the letter offered that option to the Minister. They also indicated that Spanish Embassy staff in Prague seemed unaware of the conference and noted they had not been invited, though Post understands the Spanish Embassy in the Czech Republic was involved in conference planning discussions. END COMMENT. SOLOMONT