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FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6486
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3781
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RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 3615
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 000122 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2020 
TAGS: ETRD ECON PREL PGOV EAID MEPI KIPR LE
SUBJECT: ECONOMY MINISTER SAFADI OPTIMISTIC ON GROWTH 
POTENTIAL 
 
REF: BEIRUT 118 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (U) This message is an action request.  Please see 
paragraph 3. 
 
¶2. (C) Summary: In a February 5 meeting with the Ambassador, 
Minister of Economy and Trade Mohammed Safadi requested 
assistance in setting up meetings during his private March 
7-14 trip to Washington.  The prime minister, president, and 
speaker of parliament had reached an agreement, Safadi 
reported, to move forward legislation that had been submitted 
to parliament by the previous cabinet, including several 
bills important to World Trade Organization (WTO) accession 
and intellectual property rights (IPR).  Safadi expressed 
optimism about the country's economic growth potential and 
sought U.S. support to revitalize the railway between 
northern Lebanon and the south.  Safadi reported reduced 
tensions between the Alawite and Sunni communities in Tripoli 
and discussed his plans improve relations with regional 
Christian opposition leader Suleiman Franjieh.  Safadi also 
described his Safadi Foundation USA's expanding role in 
lobbying on behalf of Lebanese non-governmental organizations 
who seek support and funding from the United States.  End 
summary. 
 
REQUEST FOR MEETINGS 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Minister of Economy and Trade Mohammed Safadi, during 
a February 5 meeting with the Ambassador, requested Embassy 
assistance in setting up meetings during his private March 
7-12 trip to Washington.  (Note:  He will also be meeting 
with his philanthropic Safadi Foundation USA office while 
there.  See para. 8.  End Note.) Safadi said he would speak 
at the Wilson Center and at the U.S. Institute for Peace to 
raise awareness about his Safadi Foundation USA, but he 
requested meetings from March 9-11 at USTR, TDA, State 
Department, USAID, and other government agencies.  Safadi's 
list of requests included Special Envoy for Middle East Peace 
George Mitchell, Undersecretary for Economic, Energy, and 
Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats, Assistant Secretary for 
Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, Middle East Partnership 
Initiative (MEPI) Director Timothy Andrews, USAID 
Administrator Rajiv Shah, USAID Special Assistant George 
Laudato, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the Ex-Im Bank, the 
Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. Trade 
Development Agency (USTDA), the U.S. Trade Representative 
(USTR), and various Congressional members.  We suggest that 
the Department prioritize meetings at USTR and the Department 
of Commerce, as well as a stop at USTDA, in order to discuss 
Lebanon's WTO accession and a possible TDA transportation 
sector feasibility study. 
 
WTO LEGISLATION UNJAMMED? 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Safadi divulged that Prime Minister Saad Hariri, 
President Michel Sleiman, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri 
recently agreed on a "new way out" for pending bills that had 
been approved by the old government, including significant 
legislation for WTO accession and on IPR issues, that would 
be revealed in a "week or two."  (Note: IPR draft laws 
pending parliamentary approval include the geographic 
indications law, trademark law, and the industrial designs 
law.  For WTO, the international trade and licensing law is 
awaiting approval, as well as the general food law and the 
law on animal quarantine.  End note.)  He had initiated a 
"big drive" in the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MOET) on 
IPR issues, Safadi noted, in order to enforce IPR protection 
"all over" the country.  Safadi told the Ambassador he had 
sent a letter to "Dahiyeh" (Hizballah) threatening to cease 
IPR enforcement activities in the entire country if the party 
prevented the MOET from working in Hizballah-controlled 
areas.  If Hizballah refused his demand, Safadi threatened to 
cancel all MOET enforcement efforts and point his finger 
publicly at Hizballah's intransigence.  Separately, Safadi 
discussed with the USAID Director pending memorandums of 
understanding (MOU) for the newest phase of the 
USAID-supported WTO accession project and the Quality Control 
and Certification Program (QCC).  Both MOUs are still under 
negotiation. 
 
PLANS TO GENERATE ECONOMIC GROWTH 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Safadi expressed optimism that the new government, 
 
unlike its hamstrung predecessors, "would be able to do 
things" and reported positive signs of growth throughout the 
country.  Citizens, "fed up" with politics, demanded progress 
on "real life" issues, such as jobs, infrastructure, and 
economic growth, he said.  The minister asked if U.S. 
provisions of wheat under the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
program started in Lebanon in 2006 would continue. 
 
¶6. (C) PM Hariri had blessed his proposal to restore the 
railway between northern and southern Lebanon, Safadi said. 
If the cabinet approved an economic feasibility study, he 
explained, it should also approve a cost study.  The economic 
feasibility study, Safadi proposed, might be done in 
conjunction with USTDA.  He stated that he had raised the 
topic, as well, with the French Development Agency during 
Hariri's January visit to Paris.  The proposed railway, 
Safadi underscored, would link the country from north to 
south into one economic unit to open economic possibilities 
throughout the country. 
 
RECONCILIATION IN THE NORTH 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Tensions had eased in his Tripoli hometown, Safadi 
noted, after he initiated talks with the small Alawite 
population in the Jebl Mohsen area that regularly clashed 
with Tripoli's Sunni majority.  Safadi also described a 
recent lunch with Christian opposition leader Suleiman 
Franjieh -- from the northern city of Zgharta -- and detailed 
his plan to organize a "big to-do" for Franjieh in Tripoli 
sometime after the February 14 commemoration of former Prime 
Minister Rafiq Hariri's assassination.  Safadi claimed that 
he had been out of town during the January 31 meeting of the 
March 14 coalition (reftel), and he confirmed that he would 
attend the February 14 commemoration event, which he hoped 
would be a "unifying" event to which all political parties 
were invited. 
 
SAFADI USA EXPANDING 
-------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Describing the Safadi Foundation USA, of which he is 
honorary president, the Minister explained that the 
foundation represented all of Lebanon, not just a certain 
political grouping or geographic region.  The goal of the 
Safadi Foundation USA, founded only eleven months before, was 
to lobby on behalf of all Lebanese NGOs seeking U.S. funding, 
Safadi alleged, in return for those NGOs supporting Safadi 
Foundation work in Lebanon.  The Safadi Foundation USA would 
host cultural events to raise its profile in the United 
States, he said.  (Note: The Tunis regional MEPI office 
approved a $50,000 grant in July 2009 for the Safadi 
Foundation to provide entrepreneurship training to 50 women 
from the old city of Tripoli.  The project started in October 
2009 and will run until September 2010, indirectly affecting 
more than 400 families.  End note.) 
SISON