VZCZCXRO5033
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #1258 1831312
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 021312Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3116
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/RA FOR ADLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2019 
TAGS: OPDC PREL KISL EG
SUBJECT: ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARIAT SEEKS FOLLOW-UP ON 
ELEMENTS OF PRESIDENT'S JUNE 4 SPEECH 
 
REF: A. CAIRO 1051 
    ¶B. SECSTATE 62946 Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey Reasons: 1.4 (B) and (D)
1.(U) This message contains an action request in para

¶6. 
2.(U) Arab League Chief of Staff Hisham Yousef pulled us aside following a June 30 briefing for local diplomats (septel) to suggest that the Arab League Secretariat send a delegation to Washington to review various issues enumerated in the President's June 4 Cairo speech. Yousef referenced SYG Moussa's letter to the Secretary commending the speech (reftel a), and said that it was unclear from the Secretary's response (reftel b) if the Secretary would welcome such an Arab League delegation.

3.(U) Yousef said that he would lead the AL delegation, to be composed of experts from the Secretariat, not from AL member states. He said that they would be willing to discuss any and all aspects of the U.S.-Arab/Muslim relationship, but drew specific attention to the President's discussion of economic initiatives, including the creation of a new corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries; a "Summit on Entrepreneurship" to be held this year; and the launching of a new fund to support technological development.

4.(U) Yousef said that the AL Secretariat team wants to follow up on these issues in a "serious manner," and that this was "not for mere propaganda purposes" and would not focus much on regional political issues. He also noted that the Organization of the Islamic Conference should eventually be involved, given that the President's June 4 speech focused on U.S.-Islamic relations, of which Arab Muslims are a subset.

5.(C) Comment: Acting on its own, the Arab League has not been very successful at forays into economic/social territory (see: The Kuwait Economic Summit of February 2009.) Yousef seems to recognize this, and mentioned the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum (most recently held in 2008 in Washington) as a possible venue or model for addressing the economic issues identified in the President's June 4 speech (the forum has been held in partnership with the AL and the GCC). We believe there would be some value in hearing what Yousef and his AL colleagues have to say.

6.(U) Action request: Please advise if the Department is receptive to the Arab League's proposal. SCOBEY