VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #9832 0471958
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161951Z FEB 07
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0000

UNCLAS STATE 019832 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PREL PHUM PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGAL'S ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES 
 
REF:  07 LISBON 217 
 
¶1.  (SBU) In response to reftel request, the following is 
guidance on the Community of Democracies (CD), the role the 
U.S. can play in shaping both the work of the GOP-led CD 
Working Group "Regional and Interregional Cooperation for 
Democratic Governance," and priorities for Portugal's 
upcoming CD Presidency to begin at the end of the Bamako 
Ministerial in November. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) U.S. Goals for Portugal's CD Chairmanship: 
Although in the run-up to its fourth ministerial, the 
Community of Democracies remains in the early stages of its 
development and potential.  Some international 
organizations have stepped up interaction with the CD and 
even begun concrete projects with considerable promise for 
success, such as the Organization of American States- 
African Union Democracy Bridge project.  However, the U.S. 
would like to see more such projects and the active support 
of governments and organizations for such efforts.  To that 
end four CD working groups in various areas have been 
created to promote and develop concrete initiatives in 
between ministerial meetings.  The U.S. expectation is that 
Portugal's Presidency from November 2007 to November 2009 
of the CD will strengthen and augment those efforts. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The U.S. is also actively pressing for the UN 
Democracy Caucus (UNDC - an outcome of the Warsaw CD 
ministerial) to develop and pursue a common agenda across 
all UN organizations.  The UNDC should focus initially on 
pressing for continued focus by the UN Democracy Fund 
(UNDEF) on civil society, improvements in the grant making 
process, and most importantly additional contributions by 
member states to UNDEF.  The UNDC could also strive to 
promote democracy education initiatives through UNESCO, 
while at the same time working to make the UN Human Rights 
Council more effective and credible.  As part of its 
upcoming CD Presidency, the U.S. would urge Portugal as an 
initial priority to concentrate on turning the UNDC into an 
effective policy bloc of committed democracies, mirroring 
the efforts and will of the Community of Democracies. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Portugal as WG Leader: We urge Portugal to drive 
the Working Group to develop and implement one or two 
projects promoting regional or interregional cooperation. 
Time is beginning to run short and this WG is already 
behind the work of other CD WGs.  Portugal's support of the 
OAS-AU proposed Democracy Bridge, a concept first 
recommended by the Americas regional group at the Santiago 
CD Ministerial, is an example of how the CD can promote 
concrete projects.  We urge Portugal, as WG Chair, to 
develop input into the OAS-AU Democracy Bridge project, 
which is now expected to take place in July.  We also urge 
Portugal to include NGO participants in future WG meetings, 
as the synergy resulting from governmental and civil 
society policy and program development cooperation is a key 
tenet of the Community of Democracies. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Response to Ukraine's WG Proposals: Ukraine's 
general work plan seems very general and lacks concrete, 
"implementable" projects.  Department would be curious to 
learn what the 10 year work plan would involve and what the 
deliverables would be.  The suggestion to meet three times 
this year to implement the work of the WG strikes us as too 
few meetings to accomplish hard deliverables by Bamako in 
early November.  However, Kyiv's idea to support nascent 
democratic habits seems like a concrete, achievable and 
useful project.  The suggestion on supporting nascent 
democratic habits is a good idea, but the question in 
return is: how?  In particular, a conference targeted at 
emerging democracies, perhaps held on the sidelines of the 
CD ministerial in Bamako might be a useful event and 
removes the possibility of Ukraine linking this event to 
its attempts to host the next International Conference of 
New or Restored Democracies (ICNRD).  (Note:  The 
Government of Ukraine has announced its intention to host 
the next ICNRD.  The Department opposes any linkage between 
the Community of Democracies and ICNRD, as the ICNRD has 
universal membership, thus undermining pro-democracy 
actions by including the efforts of those with no obvious 
interest in advancing democracy.  End Note.) 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Portugal as future CD and future EU President: As 
President of the EU in the second half of this year, 
Portugal could make increased European Commission 
interaction and a public diplomacy effort to increase EU- 
wide interest in the CD one of its Presidency goals.  This 
could jumpstart a potential focus in the upcoming 
Portuguese CD Presidency to increase regional and 
interregional cooperation and drum up greater interest in 
CD. 
RICE