US embassy cable - 05VIENNA1886

UNCLAS VIENNA 001886 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/I AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, EIND, ECON, IZ, AU, EUN 
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA:  DELIVERABLES FOR THE U.S.-EU 
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON IRAQ 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 103222 
 
     B. (B) VIENNA 1740 
     C. (C) STATE 93742 
     D. (D) VIENNA 1439 
     E. (E) VIENNA 810 
 
1.  Acting DCM delivered ref (a) points on June 6 to Ralph 
Scheide, the Austrian Foreign Ministry's assistant 
secretary-level Director for Middle East and African Affairs. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
2.  Scheide said the June 22 conference was "on the schedule" 
of Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.  He said he had 
convinced her to attend by arguing the importance of being 
present among a wide collection of leaders -- "it's important 
just to be there," he said, even if she did not have a 
speaking role. 
 
3.  Scheide added that he would draft a "good statement" for 
release in the context of Plassnik's travel to Brussels. 
 
4.  Regarding Austria's Madrid pledges, Scheide noted that 
the humanitarian assistance that Austria had not yet 
disbursed was for projects suspended due to the security 
situation.  Likewise, Austrian firms had not yet taken 
advantage of the 10.2 million Euros in credit guarantees that 
Austria had made available at Madrid because of an 
unwillingness to go to Iraq at this juncture.  (Post reported 
details ref e.)  We said it was time for Austrians to 
re-assess the situation in light of the most recent 
developments in Iraq. 
 
5.  Debt relief negotiations, Scheide said, are underway in 
the context of the Paris Club.  Austria had agreed to forgive 
80 percent of Iraq's debt -- the question now was determining 
the level of that debt.  The Austrian and Iraqi Ministries of 
Finance were discussing the issue.  (Comment:  The 
discussions basically concern whether or not to include 
interest in the overall debt figure.  The final amount of the 
debt will be between 800 million and 1.2 billion dollars. 
This is roughly one percent of Austria's GDP, making the 
write off a significant one, however the negotiations turn 
out.  End Comment.) 
 
6.  Regarding Austria's police training mission, Scheide 
noted that the Austrian government was considering the U.S. 
request to extend the duration of the police training 
mission.  He said, however, that it was unlikely that the 
Austrians could expand the numbers of trainers.  (Note:  per 
ref d, in a separate conversation, Brigadier Kurt Hager, the 
Interior Ministry's action officer for international police 
training, had told us he would work on our request for an 
extension.  On June 3, Hager gave us informal indications 
that the Austrian government was likely to approve an 
extension through 2006.  End note.) 
 
7.  Scheide told us that he has offered other training to the 
Iraqi Ambassador in Austria.  For example, he had suggested 
several times that Iraq send officials to Austria for 
training on constitutional issues and federalism.  This offer 
remained on the table, Scheide said.  Scheide noted that 
earlier in the year, Austria had provided training at the 
Austrian Diplomatic Academy ten Iraqi diplomats.  Austria 
funded all the travel and other logistical support for this 
program, spending approximately 100,000 Euros. 
Brown