US embassy cable - 05CAIRO4309

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CAIRO 004309 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, EIND, ECON, EG, IZ, RS, EUN, Richard Jones 
SUBJECT: IRAQ CONFERENCE CORE-GROUP PLANNING MEETING IN 
CAIRO JUNE 1-2, VISIT OF AMBASSADOR RICHARD JONES 
 
REF: A. STATE 103222 
     B. STATE 93742 
     C. CAIRO 4125 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified by Charge Gordon Gray for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (C) Steering Group members (U.S., EU, Iraq, Japan, UN, 
Egypt, and Russia) met in Cairo June 2 to coordinate planning 
for a June 22 Ministerial meeting on Iraq to be held in 
Brussels (ref A).  The USG delegation, led by Iraq Policy 
Coordinator Ambassador Richard Jones, held bilateral meetings 
with Steering Group counterparts during its May 31 to June 3 
visit.  Delegation heads from the U.S. and the European Union 
led the group discussions over a seven-point agenda which 
addressed logistical arrangements, a media strategy, a draft 
conference statement, and an Iraqi strategy document on 
progress and remaining needs for international assistance in 
the political, economic, and security fields.  Russia joined 
the Steering Group in Cairo following a series of last-minute 
senior-level Russian interventions with U.S., European, 
Iraqi, and Egyptian officials, causing upset within the 
Egyptian Foreign Ministry.  The GOE on the morning of June 2 
chose not to officially host the Steering Group meeting but, 
rather, provided the venue at a local hotel for the meeting's 
convocation.  Overall, the Steering Group's meeting and 
Ambassador Jones's consultations were successful in 
highlighting areas of required attention, and served as a 
useful adjunct to the weekly teleconferences held by the 
Steering Group.  Most importantly, the presence of 
senior-level Iraqi organizers allowed for useful exchanges of 
views and expectations.  End summary. 
 
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Working Through the Agenda 
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2.  (C) Members of a Steering Committee planning the June 22 
International Conference on Iraq in Brussels met in Cairo 
June 2 to address remaining administrative and substantive 
issues to be decided ahead of a gathering of up to 85 foreign 
ministers and heads of international organizations in the 
Belgian capital.  USG delegation leader Ambassador Richard 
Jones and European Union Senior Official Christian Leffler 
led the talks, along with their Iraqi counterpart, Ambassador 
Mohamed Hamoud.  The group addressed a seven-point agenda 
that included discussion of an Iraqi strategy document to be 
presented in Brussels on development priorities, the 
structure of a June 21 senior officials meeting and the June 
22 ministerial, conference logistics, a draft conference 
communique, a public relations strategy, and a conference 
follow-up mechanism. 
 
3.  (C) As a result of the discussions, the Iraqi delegate 
agreed to provide Steering Group members by June 7 (before 
the next Steering Group conference call on June 8) an outline 
of a draft strategy document which will address Iraqi actions 
and continued needs in the three main areas to be addressed 
at the Brussels conference (political, economic, and rule of 
law).  A more detailed draft strategy document will be 
circulated by June 9 so that Steering Group members can 
factor the paper's content into a draft conference statement. 
 On the statement, attendees agreed to shorten the EU's first 
draft and merge it with a new USG-Iraqi draft distributed 
during the meeting.  The USG delegation agreed to merge the 
two documents and distribute a revised draft to Steering 
Group members ahead of a June 8 conference call.  The new 
document will include suggestions, mainly from the Egyptian 
and UN delegates, to revise language on "federalism" to match 
Neighbor Group statements, to include a reference to the 
importance of "public" investment in Iraq, to not 
over-emphasize NATO's training role, to include additional 
language on security similar to that found in UNSCR 1546, and 
to highlight the role of women in Iraq's political 
transformation. 
 
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Russian Participation in Steering Committee, Egyptian Pique 
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4.  (C) Russia's participation at the June 2 Cairo Steering 
Group meeting came about following senior-level interventions 
by the Russian Foreign Minister and Russian President with 
European and USG colleagues, but with minimal coordination 
and consultation with Egypt (ref C).  The meeting had been 
planned as a Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting which 
was to include senior officials from some thirty countries 
and organizations.  In response to USG concerns over Syrian 
inclusion in a PrepCom, the Steering Group - including Egypt 
- agreed to make the Cairo meeting a coordination meeting of 
the Steering Group only.  Later, following Russian pressure 
to be included in the Steering Group at the last moment, the 
Egyptians decided that they would not officially host the 
gathering, but would merely provide a venue for the gathering 
(moving the event from the Ministry to a local hotel 
conference room), informing participants of this change on 
the morning of June 2. 
 
5.  (C) During the Steering Group meeting and 
Heads-of-Delegation luncheon, UN Official de Mistura 
encouraged additional consultations between the UN and the 
USG and also confirmed that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 
would attend and speak at the Brussels ministerial meeting. 
Participants agreed to emphasize that the Brussels 
Ministerial was meant to showcase international political 
support for Iraq's transformation and was not a donor's 
conference, as some media reports have asserted. 
Participants agreed that the follow-up to the Brussels 
conference will be a Fourth Donors Conference in Amman, 
Jordan in late July.  Egypt made the point that the Sharm El 
Sheikh process should continue to be utilized. 
 
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Steering Group Meeting Attendees 
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6.  (U) USG Delegation Names: 
 
Ambassador Richard Jones, Iraq Policy Coordinator 
Ann Derse, Economic Minister Counselor, Embassy Baghdad 
Clarke Cooper, Embassy Baghdad 
Roland DeMarcellus, Department of State, Economic Bureau 
MG Joseph Fil, Baghdad 
Mathew Fuller, Assistant to Ambassador Jones 
Peter Ganser, Embassy Baghdad 
Sandy Hodgkinson, National Security Council 
Patricia Lerner, USEU, USAID Development Counselor 
Gregg Marchessault, Embassy Baghdad 
Capt Brad McCoy, Aide to General Fil 
Robert Tappan, PDAS, DOS Public Affairs Bureau 
Thomas Valentine, Embassy Baghdad 
Chris Hegadorn, Embassy Cairo 
 
 
European Union Names: 
 
Christian Leffler, EU Commission, Head of Delegation 
Patricia Lombart, EU Commission, Political Director 
Silvie Lucas, EU Presidency, MFA Luxembourg 
Marc Otte, EU Council 
 
 
Japanese Delegation Names: 
 
Ambassador Akio Shirota, MFA Director of Iraq Reconstruction 
Coordination Office 
Shinsuke Sugiyama, Charge d'Affaires, Embassy of Japan 
Junya Matsuura, MFA Deputy Director, Second Middle East 
Division 
 
 
Iraqi Delegation Names: 
 
Ambassador Mohamed Hammoud 
Ambassador Srood Najib, MFA Director of International 
Organizations Department 
 
 
Egyptian Delegation Names: 
 
Ambassador Sameh Shukry, MFA Chief of Cabinet 
Dr. Alaa Hadidi, MFA Cabinet Staff Member, Counselor 
 
 
United Nations Delegation Names: 
 
Stephan de Mistura, NY 
 
 
Russian Delegation Names: 
 
Sergei Kirpitchenko, Special Envoy for Iraq Policy 
Ambassador Mikhail Bogdanov, Embassy of Russia 
 
7.  (U) Ambassador Jones has cleared this message. 
 
 
Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. 
 
GRAY 
 
#4309