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Viewing cable 09GENEVA862, CONSULTATION ON PA BID FOR WTO OBSERVER STATUS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09GENEVA862 2009-10-09 08:38 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Mission Geneva
VZCZCXRO6348
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHGV #0862 2820838
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090838Z OCT 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9622
INFO RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 4635
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0898
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 6912
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 5726
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 6545
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 8535
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO 2047
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV 1195
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0727
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2013
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 1071
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1822
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS GENEVA 000862 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
TEL AVIV FOR AMB, DCM, AND ECON 
USTR FOR CKLEIN, AVENKATARAMAN,SFRANCESKI, MMOWREY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD WTRO ECON PREL KWBG IS
SUBJECT: CONSULTATION ON PA BID FOR WTO OBSERVER STATUS 
 
Reftels:  (a) Jerusalem 1607 (B) Secstate 99831 (c) Geneva00783 
(d) Tel Aviv 02166 (e) Geneva 00839 
 
1.(SBU) SUMMARY - This morning's consultation on the PA bid for 
observer status in the WTO General Council (GC) went well.  No one 
questioned GC Chair Matus's intention not to place this issue of the 
agenda for the October General Council meeting and the discussion 
was short and low key.  It appears that we will not have problems at 
the October GC meeting, although it is still possible that Egypt, or 
someone else from the region, could raise the issue under other 
business to make a plea for prompt and positive consideration.  End 
Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Matus opened the discussion by recalling that he had 
received the PA's request on Monday.  He had consulted with a number 
of countries so far but most did not have formal instructions from 
capital.  While the PA was hoping for action at the October GC, 
Matus said there simply is not enough time for the necessary 
consultations before the agenda closes. At this stage he plans to 
continue consulting.  He noted that it is traditional for the Chair 
to place issues such as this on the GC agenda if he believes the 
issue is ready for conclusion.  If he finds a consensus in 
sufficient time, he said he would place this issue on the November 
GC agenda.  He said that when he consults with Members he is hoping 
for concrete responses stating either yes, or no with an explanation 
of why the Member concerned does not see the PA as meeting the 
necessary criteria. 
 
3. (SBU) After an awkward silence, Egypt took the floor to say that 
they strongly support the PA's request and hope that all Members 
will do the same.  They said that they have spoken to many 
delegations who all expressed support. They said that they, and the 
other Members of the Arab Group, will continue to talk to other 
dels, noting that PA observer status would be good for their 
development and the institution.  (Note - while there were quite a 
number of Ambassadors at the meeting, Egypt was represented at a 
more junior level.) 
 
4. (SBU) Qatar, with some stage queues from Egypt, spoke on behalf 
of the Arab Group.  They said that the Arab Group supports Egypt. 
The Group does not want to make a political issue of this and they 
recalled that they had not objected when a member of the Israeli 
delegation had been selected to Chair a WTO Committee.  (Comment - 
actually they did object behind the scenes but were pushed back by 
the Chair of the Committee on Trade in Goods and the DG.)  They said 
that acceptance of the PA's request was important to peace in their 
region. 
 
5. (SBU) Matus noted that all appeared to be in agreement that we 
will not place this issue on the October GC meeting and said he 
would start consultations next week. 
 
6. (SBU) We seem to be in good shape for the October GC meeting. 
It's possible that Egypt, or someone else, will raise this under 
Other Business to make a pitch for the PA request but this would not 
be likely to result in a confrontational discussion.  However, time 
was on our side this time around.  The November GC meeting is likely 
to present more of a challenge. 
 
SHARK