US embassy cable - 05DOHA1081

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 001081 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR NEA/ARPI THORNE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, ETRD, KDEM, QA, UN 
SUBJECT: G77 Begins the Second "South Summit" in Qatar 
 
 
1. (U) Foreign Ministers of the Group of 77 UN bloc met June 13 
in Doha as part of the second "South Summit." Heads of State, 
largely from the African, Pacific, and Arab regions, will meet 
June 15 and 16. The conference is expected to deal with issues of 
UN reform, international development assistance, and the 
economics of globalization. A final statement will take positions 
on Somalia, Iraq, and Palestine. The summit will also review the 
"Havana Program of Action," the product of the first South Summit 
in Cuba in 2000, which outlined specific steps on trade, 
development, and globalization. For Qatar, this event is an 
opportunity to demonstrate international leadership, at least in 
logistics. Qatar will also seek to enhance its Third World 
credentials at this meeting, to balance its growing security and 
commercial ties with the developed world. 
 
Kings and President 
------------------- 
 
2. (U) Forty-three heads of state or of government are expected 
to attend the summit. Prominent leaders from Arab states are the 
kings of Bahrain and Morocco and the presidents of Algeria, 
Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Sudan. The Emir of Abu Dhabi will 
attend in his capacity as president of the UAE. Saudi Arabia will 
send a fairly low representative -- Assistant Minister for 
Foreign Affairs. From Africa, the presidents of South Africa and 
Nigeria will stand out among a larger African group. 
Approximately 120 official delegations are expected. 
 
Qatari Foreign Minister 
----------------------- 
 
3. (U) In his remarks to the G77 foreign ministers, Qatari FM 
Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said that developing countries have met 
their social and governance commitments and have liberalized 
their economies as called for in UN conferences. However, he said 
"our partners" in the developed world have not lived up to their 
commitments, specifically, to devote 0.7% of GDP to overseas 
development assistance. By doing so, he categorized Qatar, with 
per capita income in the top ten worldwide, in the "developing" 
category.  He called for a close examination of the UN Millennium 
Declaration to secure "effective implementation of previous 
promises." 
 
4. (U) HBJ noted that the Havana Declaration of 2000 has not been 
fully implemented. He called for speeding up implementation of 
these measures, which essentially are broad schemes to improve 
"south-south" cooperation. HBJ nodded to economic "cooperation 
between the north and the south," as Qatar, a major energy 
supplier to developed nations, must. He focused however on the 
complementary nature of "south-south" trade and investment, and 
supported the "political framework" put forth at the first South 
Summit. (NOTE. "North" and "south" are used here to reflect the 
G77 vernacular and viewpoint.) 
 
Plan of Action 
-------------- 
 
5. (U) Foreign Ministers agreed on two draft declarations, one on 
development and one on political issues. The Doha "plan of 
action" calls for attention to the former, which looks at 
problems of development, globalization, the WTO, and relations 
between advanced countries and the developing world. Some 
delegates noted that "south-south" cooperation on these matters 
needs to be looked at before blaming developed nations. Ministers 
agreed that external debt remains a heavy burden for low- and 
medium-income countries, and no complete solution has been found. 
They noted that only a few industrial countries have fulfilled 
their commitment to devote 0.7% of their GDP to overseas 
assistance. 
 
6. (U) The political declaration will be limited; it will address 
conflicts in Somalia, Iraq, and Palestine. Some delegates 
reportedly disagreed about the using the phrase "peaceful means" 
as the way to solve these crises, but the wording made it into 
the draft text anyway. UN reform will be taken up by the summit 
but in a separate document. The aim will be to strengthen the 
world body. The Pakistani FM said his country was against giving 
a new, permanent Security Council seat to any country. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (SBU) There will be no ground-breaking document or action plan 
at this summit. We had expected the Qataris to do more to 
emphasize links between industrial and developing countries, but 
the FM has positioned Qatar as a "developing" nation rather than 
a rich one. This means that Qatar is playing to its 130-plus G77 
audience rather than its primary trading partners and foreign 
investors. His finger-pointing at the West for not devoting 0.7% 
of GDP to overseas assistance cannot withstand close scrutiny, as 
Qatar is now one of the world's wealthiest countries per capita 
and has a fairly low aid budget.