VZCZCXRO6478
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHMD #1835/01 2011522
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201522Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0305
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 1984

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001835 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PLEASE PASS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 
ECA -- TFARRELL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO SCUL SP
SUBJECT: EDUCATION SECRETARY SPELLINGS MEETS WITH KEY 
SPANISH LEADERS 
 
REF: STATE 113838 
 
MADRID 00001835  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU)   SUMMARY: During her June 29-July 2 visit to 
Madrid, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings met with Vice 
President de la Vega, Foreign Minister Moratinos, Education 
Minister Cabrera, and Madrid Community President Esperanza 
Aguirre.  Vice President de la Vega emphasized the need for 
continued and expanded educational interchange between Spain 
and the U.S.  She proposed a bilateral agreement to expand 
either university exchanges or joint research and development 
that could be signed by Secretary Rice during her anticipated 
visit to Spain in the fall of 2006.  FM Moratinos renewed 
Spain's offer to fund both a hospital and a school in Iraq. 
Secretary Spellings and Madrid Community President Aguirre 
 
SIPDIS 
discussed the No Child Left Behind Act, which Secretary 
Spellings helped create in 2000.  Aguirre said Madrid is 
modeling its new education initiative after the U.S. program. 
 Education and Science Minister Cabrera proposed creation of 
an EU education network to attract more American graduate and 
beyond students and scientists to Europe.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U)   U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings paid 
a four-day visit to Spain from June 29 to July 2.  Secretary 
Spellings met with several high-level Spanish leaders in 
Madrid and shared views on the importance of research and 
development programs at the University level. as well as the 
No Child Left Behind Act.  Spellings also met with Spanish 
Fulbright students and faculty and spoke at a business 
breakfast of the American Chamber of Commerce.  She gave an 
interview to Madrid's second leading daily El Mundo (circ: 
408,000) in which she discussed the university system in the 
U.S. and the No Child Left Behind Act. 
 
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FM Moratinos 
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¶3. (SBU)   In a June 29 meeting with Foreign Minister Miguel 
Angel Moratinos, Moratinos told Spellings that the GOS would 
like to fund both a hospital and a school in Iraq.  Moratinos 
asked Spellings to work with Department and others to help 
the GOS identify a specific school project.  He made a 
similar request to Ambassador Aguirre for details on a 
hospital to fund.  (NOTE:  This offer was in response to a 
request by S that Spain fund either a school or a hospital 
during a June 19 meeting with Moratinos in Washington.  Per 
reftel, we have proposed and Moratinos has agreed to fund a 
children's cancer hospital in Basrah.  While the GOS has 
agreed, the payment details have not been finalized.  The GOS 
has not made any announcement on the hospital, and Post 
requests Department not announce the project until we 
coordinate with the GOS.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶4. (U)   Moratinos also emphasized Spain's desire for 
US-Spain cooperation in educational development in North 
Africa, acknowledging Secretary Spellings' leading role in 
BMENA in this area.  Moratinos proposed coordination between 
a U.S. university in Ifran in Central Morocco and a new 
university being launched under the auspices of the Spanish 
and Moroccan monarchs called "The University of the Two 
Kings" located in Northern Morocco.  Secretary Spellings and 
Ambassador Aguirre expressed gratitude for Spain,s desire to 
work with the U.S. in these areas and undertook to develop 
concrete ideas. 
 
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VP de la Vega 
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¶5. (SBU)   Spellings met with Vice President Maria Teresa 
Fernandez de la Vega on June 30.  De la Vega began by noting 
the recent meeting between Secretary Rice and FM Moratinos as 
a sign of the improving bilateral relationship.  De la Vega 
proposed a bilateral agreement to expand either university 
exchanges or joint research and development that could be 
highlighted by Secretary Rice during her anticipated visit to 
Spain in the fall of 2006.  (NOTE: Post is developing several 
ideas to share with the Department on these and related 
issues such as IPR. END NOTE.)  De la Vega emphasized the 
need for continued and expanded educational interchange 
between Spain and the U.S., and emphasized the "wonderful 
partnerships" between Spanish and American universities that 
already existed.  Noting that her government's top education 
priorities are student interchange and university-level 
applied research and investigation, de la Vega put forward 
the idea of establishing a bilateral team in the respective 
 
MADRID 00001835  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
Education ministries to work on improving the exchange of 
students and teachers. 
 
¶6. (SBU)   De la Vega said she has always been impressed with 
U.S. research programs and would like to improve Spanish 
programs with help from the U.S, particularly in the 
pharmaceutical field.  De la Vega noted with regret that many 
of Spain's best and brightest go to the U.S. to study. 
Secretary Spellings replied that she had said the same thing 
 
SIPDIS 
about Spanish institutions earlier in the day.  The 
Ambassador noted that pharmaceutical research would be 
difficult in Spain due to weaknesses in Spain's Intellectual 
Property Rights laws which could impede patenting of new 
discoveries.  The Vice President denied that there are any 
problems with Spain's current IPR laws. 
 
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Esperanza Aguirre 
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¶7. (U)   Secretary Spellings' June 30 meeting with Esperanza 
Aguirre, President of the Community of Madrid (equivalent to 
a state governor in the U.S.), focused on the No Child Left 
Behind Act.  Esperanza Aguirre would like to send the 
Community of Madrid's Director of Education to the U.S. to 
consult with the Department of Education sometime in the near 
future, noting that Madrid is currently working on an 
education initiative modeled after the U.S. act.  Secretary 
Spellings said she would be happy to have her Department host 
a Spanish visitor.  Like VP de la Vega, Aguirre also was 
concerned with the state of Spanish research institutions and 
was committed to improving them. 
 
¶8. (SBU)   Ambassador asked Aguirre about the newly announced 
ETA negotiations.  Aguirre, a key leader in the Popular Party 
which is vehemently opposed to negotiations with ETA, 
expressed her deep concern about the Zapatero government's 
ETA policy.  She refuted any equation of the ETA situation 
with the Northern Ireland peace process, saying that ETA 
alone was the only party doing the killing.  She expressed 
her strong view that President Zapatero should not negotiate 
until ETA had proven its disarmament, but she believes that 
negotiations will eventually be possible. 
 
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"Transatlantic Network of Knowledge" 
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¶9. (U)   Prior to her meeting with Minister of Education and 
Science Mercedes Cabrera Calvo-Sotelo, Secretary Spellings 
witnessed the signing of a letter of intention between 
Ambassador Aguirre and Cabrera.  This letter will promote the 
strengthening of scientific research ties between the U.S. 
and Spain.  Cabrera and FM Moratinos are working together on 
a Spanish initiative to create a "Transatlantic Network of 
Knowledge" that Moratinos said is "a proposal to engage the 
USA in the education and scientific system of the EU."  While 
still in the brainstorming phase, the intent of this plan is 
to create an education and scientific network within the EU 
that would attract American graduate, post-graduate and 
post-doctoral students and scientists to Europe.  Secretary 
Spellings expressed interest in the idea. 
 
¶10. (U)   Secretary Spellings cleared this message. 
AGUIRRE