US embassy cable - 05VIENNA3246

UNCLAS VIENNA 003246 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR IO/UNESCO - CROWLEY AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: SCUL, ETRD, AU, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON UNESCO CONVENTION ON 
 
CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS 
 
REF: STATE 170909 
 
This cable is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please treat 
 
accordingly. 
 
1.  (SBU) Economic-Political Counselor delivered reftel 
 
demarche to Ilona Hoyos, the Austrian Foreign Ministry's head 
 
of UNESCO affairs.  We reviewed U.S. concerns about the text 
 
of the preliminary draft convention on the protection and 
 
promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions, and urged 
 
Austria to support our position that the draft remain open 
 
for futher negotiation. 
 
2.  (SBU) Hoyos said she participated in the last two 
 
negotiating rounds on the document.  She had found 
 
discussions with the U.S. delegation to e "very fruitful." 
 
That said, with the exception of some minor textual changes 
 
which Austria has distributed in capitals, Austria considered 
 
the current draft to be the best outcome that such a large 
 
group of countries could achieve.  There is both 
 
parliamentary and governmental support for the draft text in 
 
Austria, she added. 
 
3.  (SBU) Hoyos argued that there were many international 
 
legal mechanisms to safeguard culture, but UNESCO properly 
 
took on the task of developing "something readable."  In the 
 
Austrian view, the text should now go to all potential 
 
parties for a vote. 
 
4.  (SBU) Concerning the relationship of the convention to 
 
other agreements, the Austrian position was that the Vienna 
 
Convention on treaties was sufficient protection against a 
 
hierarchy that would give the UNESCO convention precedence 
 
over other agreements.  On trade issues, the WTO decided not 
 
to give an opinion, leaving the matter in UNESCO. 
 
Brown