US embassy cable - 05VIENNA3407

UNCLAS VIENNA 003407 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR IO/UNESCO AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: ETRD, PHUM, SCUL, AU, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: UNESCO CULTURAL DIVERSITY VOTE -- URGENT DEMARCHE 
 
 
DELIVERED TO AUSTRIA 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 192656 
 
     B. (B) VIENNA 3397 AND PREVIOUS 
 
This cable is Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please treat 
 
accordingly. 
 
1.  (U) Upon receipt of ref (a), Embassy formally delivered 
 
the diplomatic note on the UNESCO Cultural Diversity 
 
Convention to the Austrian government, via the Foreign 
 
Ministry.  EconPolCouns and Econ Unit Chief concurrently 
 
delivered copies of the diplomatic note and ref (a) talking 
 
points to senior officials in the Foreign and Economics 
 
Ministries, respectively. 
 
2.  (U) Frieda Luggauer-Gollner, the MFA's Assistant 
 
Secretary-level Director for Multilateral Foreign Cultural 
 
SIPDIS 
 
and UNESCO Affairs, expressed appreciation for our efforts to 
 
make our views clear.  Luggauer-Gollner noted that Austria 
 
has supported the concept of the Cultural Diversity 
 
Convention since the idea first arose.  In conjunction with 
 
other EU member states and with other members of UNESCO, 
 
Austria has worked closely on the development of the current 
 
text.  The draft convention reflects a long period of serious 
 
discussions.  Austria "fully supports" the text which has 
 
emerged. 
 
3.  (SBU) Luggauer-Gollner said that Austria considered 
 
paragraph 2 of Article 20 of the draft convention to prevent 
 
an interpretation of the Cultural Diversity Convention as 
 
taking precedence over other international agreements. 
 
(Note:  The relevant language states, "Nothing in this 
 
Convention shall be interpreted as modifying rights and 
 
obligations of the Parties under any other treaties to which 
 
they are parties."  End note.)  We urged Luggauer-Gollner to 
 
instruct the Austrian delegation to make a statement to this 
 
effect in order to clarify the record for future 
 
interpretation.  Luggauer-Gollner undertook to discuss our 
 
request with Austria's interagency community. 
 
4.  (SBU) Gabriela Habermayer, the head of the Ministry of 
 
Economics and Labor's Multilateral Trade Affairs Division, 
 
told us that Austria believed the Cultural Diversity 
 
Convention and WTO obligations did not conflict, but were 
 
mutually supportive.  Pressed, she agreed that the French 
 
Culture Minister's statements about the precedence of the 
 
Cultural Diversity Convention could presage an attempt on the 
 
part of France and others to use the convention as a lever in 
 
WTO discussions.  However, she believed this would be certain 
 
to fail in the face of the existing consensus on the nature 
 
and scope of the convention. 
 
van Voorst