US embassy cable - 05MANAMA675

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000675 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, BA 
SUBJECT: FORUM FOR FUTURE: BMENA PARTICIPATION URGED AT 
GLENEAGLES 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe.  Reason: 1.4 (B)(D) 
 
1. (C) Summary: Bahrain Crown Prince Shaikh Salman told 
delegations attending a May 10 preparatory meeting for the 
November Forum for the Future that continued G-8 engagement 
and support was essential in helping maintain reform momentum 
in the region.  Jordan Minister of Finance Awad-Allah, 
speaking for the group, told the Crown Prince that the 
November meeting needed to show concrete results.  He praised 
the symbolic importance achieved by the U.S. invitation to 
Arab participants at last year's Sea Island Summit, and hoped 
for a similar commitment this year.  British head of 
delegation Frances Guy acknowledged invitations for the 
Gleneagles Summit had to date focused on the UK's priority 
issues of climate change and Africa, but promised to take the 
message back about the importance of Arab participation as 
well.  PDAS Cheney outlined two U.S. initiatives for the 
November Forum: Foundation for the Future and Fund for the 
Future.  End summary. 
 
2. (U) At the close of the morning session of a May 10 
steering committee meeting convened in Manama to discuss and 
plan for the November Forum for the Future meeting (to be 
reported septel), Crown Prince Shaikh Salman Al-Khalifa asked 
to meet with the delegation members.  Participating in the 
meeting were officials from the U.S., U.K., and Russia 
(representing the former, current, and next G-8 
presidencies), as well Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan, and Egypt. 
The U.S. delegation was headed by NEA PDAS Cheney and DAS 
Carpenter. 
 
3. (C) Crown Prince Salman opened the meeting by thanking the 
delegations for their efforts in preparing for the  Forum for 
the Future meeting, which will be held this year in Bahrain. 
He stressed that G-8 support and engagement in this effort 
was invaluable.  The introduction of President Bush's freedom 
agenda and moves toward the emancipation of women, he said, 
are big developments for the region.  If the international 
community is there to support the reform effort, difficulties 
in implementing these reforms can be resolved.  If the 
international community is not there, implementation could be 
more difficult and dangerous.  Maintaining the momentum will 
be critical. 
 
4. (C) Jordan Minister of Finance Bassim Awad-Allah expressed 
thanks to the Government of Bahrain for volunteering to host 
the second Forum for the Future meeting, and said he wanted 
to make two points.  First, it was extremely important that 
the November meeting produce results.  Middle East countries, 
especially those like Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco that have 
pioneered reform in the region, need to be able to show that 
this partnership with the G-8 is paying off with concrete 
achievements.  Second, it is important that the G-8 countries 
demonstrate that they are maintaining their political 
commitment to the reform process in the region.  The BMENA 
countries are grateful to the U.S. for demonstrating this 
commitment, including by inviting Arab participation in the 
Sea Island Summit last June.  This commitment needs to be 
reaffirmed this year. 
 
5. (C) The Crown Prince asked if similar participation is 
being planned for the upcoming Gleneagles Summit. British 
head of delegation Frances Guy (Head of Engaging with the 
Islamic World Group in the FCO) responded that, while the 
focus on this year's summit would be climate change and 
Africa, it did not mean any lessening of the commitment to 
the issue of reform in the BMENA region.  Noting, however, 
that invitations at this point all focused on climate change 
and Africa, she said that she well understood the message she 
was hearing (which had also been delivered by several 
participants at the steering committee meeting earlier in the 
day), and would take it back to London. 
 
6. (C) Bahrain Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. 
Mohammed Abdel Ghaffar briefly reviewed for the Crown Prince 
some of the issues discussed during the morning session, 
including the question of civil society participation, and 
expressed appreciation to the USG for proposing two new 
initiatives to be launched at the November Forum meeting. 
PDAS Cheney described the two initiatives: the Foundation for 
the Future, which aims to fund projects in support of 
political reform and civil society, and the Fund for the 
Future, which aims particularly at helping finance small and 
medium-sized enterprises.  If we can get these two 
initiatives up and running by November, she said, we will 
have two concrete achievements at the Bahrain Forum for the 
Future meeting. 
7. (U) This message was cleared by PDAS Cheney. 
MONROE