US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT4231

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 004231 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/PM, NEA/ARPI, LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2015 
TAGS: MARR, PREL, PTER, IR, IZ, KU, NATO 
SUBJECT: KUWAIT EXPRESSES FRUSTRATION AT NATO'S SLOW PACE 
 
REF: KUWAIT 1175 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Matthew Tueller for reasons 1.4 
(a) and (b) 
 
1.  (U) This is an action request.  Please see para 7. 
 
2.  (C) Summary.  NATO member embassies held a second 
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) meeting September 28 at 
the Italian Embassy.  The meeting was chaired by Italian 
Ambassador Vincenzo Prati, and in attendance were the Chiefs 
and Deputy Chiefs of Mission from seventeen NATO countries as 
well as the assistant to the chief of the Kuwait National 
Security Bureau (KNSB), Shaykh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah.  During 
the first half of the meeting, Ambassador Prati updated the 
group on Kuwait's recent ICI developments, including work on 
a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) for transit of NATO 
troops and goods to Iraq, and the participation of a GOK 
official in a five-month training course at the Defense 
College in Rome.  The second half of the meeting saw a 
presentation by Shaykh Thamer on the GOK's frustration at 
NATO's failure to produce a country specific plan for 
seminars and training directed towards Kuwait.  End Summary. 
 
3.  (C) A second ICI meeting of NATO embassies in Kuwait was 
held on September 28 with the Italian Ambassador as host and 
chair.  The first hour saw discussion on NATO's SOFA 
negotiations, with the Dutch Ambassador commenting that the 
SOFA should not be tied to Iraq as "we may want to do 
something after actions have ended there." The French Defense 
Attach pointed out that the agenda prepared by the Italian 
Embassy focused on what NATO wanted rather than what NATO 
could offer Kuwait.  The British DCM and DCM Tueller both 
spoke of concentrating NATO's offer to things that were 
useful in country such as counter-terrorism and border 
control, rather than offering up the whole gamut of twelve 
different areas of cooperation.  Finally, there was general 
agreement that Kuwait and the other GCC countries should not 
be treated as if they were in Europe and that NATO had to be 
culturally aware when making its pitch for offerings of 
seminars and training. 
 
The GOK Point of View 
--------------------- 
 
4.  (C) Shaykh Thamer of the NSB arrived after the first hour 
and proceeded directly into his presentation.  He expressed 
frustration that NATO had not yet come up with a plan of 
action for Kuwait under the auspices of the ICI, especially 
since Kuwait had sent seven delegations to Brussels since 
November 2004.  Shaykh Thamer, a member of the ruling family, 
laid out the GOK's five areas of interest for training: 
Border Security, Crisis Management, Counter-Terrorism, 
Military Exercises and Related Training Activities, and 
Proliferation of WMD.  Stressing that he had already passed 
this information to NATO in early 2005, he said the GOK had 
been waiting since mid-April for a NATO report on how the GOK 
should begin training and what type of training to receive. 
Shaykh Thamer stated "we have participated" without receiving 
any word on country specific training that would be of direct 
benefit to Kuwait. 
 
5.  (C) Additionally, Shaykh Thamer remarked that the GOK 
offered to host the 3rd Annual GCC/NATO dialogue in 2006.  He 
explained that the invitation came about because the GOK felt 
NATO officials needed to visit Kuwait and see the people, in 
order to understand their specific concerns and needs.  He 
also said that relocating the dialogue to the Gulf would help 
get Saudi Arabia and Oman interested in ICI and possibly 
convince them to join.  Kuwait would be able to invite a 
greater number of guests than NATO, and the discussion would 
be more encompassing as well as convincing, specifically for 
Saudi Arabia, he added.  The GOK has not received a response 
to their offer. 
 
6.  (C) Shaykh Thamer noted that the GOK had also sent an 
invitation to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to 
visit Kuwait and the Gulf but, again, that no response had 
been received.  Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported last week 
that Scheffer would visit Kuwait in November but gave no 
further details and Post has no information on the visit. 
Shaykh Thamer expressed hope that if SG Scheffer personally 
visited all GCC countries and met with heads of state, he 
would convince those who had not yet joined ICI to become 
part of the program (i.e. Saudi Arabia and Oman).  Noting 
that NATO, with Kuwait, was 26 1, Shaykh Thamer said he 
wished to see it become 26 6, denoting the six countries of 
the GCC.  He ended his presentation with a request that 
relevant countries do their part to find out from NATO what 
happened to the GOK training plan and invitations to the 
region. 
 
7.  (C) Action request.  Post requests USMission NATO track 
the GOK's invitation to host the 2006 GCC/NATO dialogue as 
well as the invitation to host NATO SG Scheffer, and inform 
us of any decision that is made. 
 
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LEBARON