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Viewing cable 09ALGIERS496, GO WEST! AMBASSADOR REACHES OUT BEYOND ALGIERS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09ALGIERS496 2009-05-26 13:00 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Algiers
VZCZCXRO2731
PP RUEHMRE RUEHTRO
DE RUEHAS #0496/01 1461300
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261300Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7493
INFO RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 2770
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7632
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3130
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE 1749
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 000496 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG JPATTERSON, NEA/PPD CJAZYNKA 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PREL PGOV EINV ECON OEXC OIIP SCUL PINR AG
SUBJECT: GO WEST! AMBASSADOR REACHES OUT BEYOND ALGIERS 
 
1. (U) THIS CABLE CONTAINS BUSINESS PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND IS 
INTENDED FOR GOVERNMENT USE ONLY.  DO NOT DISTRIBUTE ON THE 
INTERNET. 
 
2. (U) SUMMARY: The Ambassador's recent trip to Oran (Algeria's 
second largest city) and Tlemcen provided him an excellent platform 
to highlight existing cooperation programs both publicly and with 
government officials, and to discuss U.S. investment and regional 
issues with local decision-makers.  Although eager for greater U.S. 
investment in the region, provincial governors seem constrained by 
bureaucratic restrictions and central government control in their 
ability to foster a more attractive investment environment.  The 
Ambassador also met the beneficiaries and implementers of USG-funded 
programs in the area in an effort to both demonstrate support for 
these programs and gauge their effectiveness.  In Oran he visited 
the university and American Corner, and toured a regional newspaper 
that had been revamped via MEPI programming.  He also met with a 
dynamic class of talented teenaged English-language students, all 
keen to study in the U.S.  Harnessing that enthusiasm through 
effective cooperative programming remains one of our key goals, just 
as managing the bureaucracies for both investment and NGO 
development remains one of our greatest challenges.  END SUMMARY 
 
A TALE OF TWO WALIS: A CALL FOR U.S. INVESTMENT 
 
3. (U) The Ambassador met with the walis (provincial governors) of 
Oran and Tlemcen.  The meetings differed widely in tone and content, 
although both men called for greater U.S. investment in the region. 
The wali of Oran, Tahar Sekrane, was well informed and prepared for 
his meeting.  As Algeria's second-largest city, Oran is an important 
economic and social center in the country.  The Ambassador and the 
wali discussed the developing bilateral relationship, and when asked 
why there was not a U.S. presence in Oran (the former U.S. Consulate 
there closed in 1994), the Ambassador highlighted the many USG 
programs and projects being carried out in the city, including the 
new American Corner, our Access school, an English Language Fellow 
(ELF), and the Centre d'Etudes Maghrebines en Algerie (CEMA), which 
is the Algeria affiliate of the American Institute for Maghreb 
Studies (AIMS). 
 
4. (SBU) The wali raised the case of Guardian Glass, an American 
company looking to invest some USD 150 million in a glass production 
facility in Oran.  The project has stalled over the issue of finding 
a site to build the facility that is acceptable to both the company 
and the local government.  The company has been negotiating a 
suitable site for its factory, which has been a slow and arduous 
process.  The wali extolled the site he said he has approved, and 
claimed that only the blessing of the Ministry of Industry was still 
needed.  The Ambassador said he hoped the wilaya would follow up 
successfully with both the Ministry of Industry and Guardian Glass. 
He noted that the Embassy sought to encourage U.S. companies to 
invest in Algeria, but bureaucratic and regulatory issues were often 
an obstacle.  He hoped that would not be the case this time.  It 
would be important to have a success story to build on, e.g. 
Guardian Glass, because companies talk to one another. 
 
TLEMCEN 
 
5. (U) In Tlemcen, the Ambassador's visit was treated with much pomp 
and circumstance by the local authorities.  In fact, at his courtesy 
call with the wali of Tlemcen, a number of local officials and 
personalities were present to welcome the Ambassador and to sit in 
on the meeting, which quickly turned to blunt questions and 
assertions.  Wali Abdelwahab Nouri asked the Ambassador to explain 
the lack of commercial exchanges between the U.S. and Algeria.  The 
Ambassador countered by again making the point that the Embassy 
sought to encourage greater U.S.-Algeria two-way trade, including 
outside the energy sector.  In fact, we had recently established a 
commercial attache position at the Embassy for this purpose.  But 
while we did our best to encourage American businesses to consider 
investment opportunities in Algeria, the business climate was not 
always easy.  Companies are in business to make money and 
bureaucratic obstacles could be a serious disincentive.  He noted 
the example of difficulties faced by Algerian producers -- following 
an agricultural mission to the U.S. organized by the Embassy -- to 
import dairy cows and build a dairy farm in Algeria.  The project 
was blocked because import regulations for cows had to be amended 
first.  The wali responded with a list of the development projects 
undertaken in Tlemcen, painting an idyllic picture of the region and 
the country as a whole.  He also criticized the U.S. for blocking 
Algerian accession to the WTO because of "small details."  The 
Ambassador responded that the details were not at all small, nor was 
the U.S. the only country concerned, but we remained prepared to 
discuss them. 
 
 
ALGIERS 00000496  002 OF 003 
 
 
A TALE OF TWO WALIS CHAPTER 2: PRESERVATION AND POLITICS 
 
6. (U) The Ambassador asked the wali of Oran about progress on the 
Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation grant to restore the El 
Pacha Mosque in the old quarter of the city.  The wali, the director 
of religious affairs, and the director of urban planning reported 
that the restoration work had thus far entailed conducting surveys 
of the land to determine the cause of fissures through half the 
edifice.  Studies are now required to determine the best course of 
action for stabilizing the subsoil and rectifying the problem, after 
which work could begin to physically restore the mosque.  The 
directors were hopeful that this restoration would begin toward the 
end of the year.  They praised the two U.S. engineers who came to 
Oran in 2007 to produce an execution plan for the project, adding 
that they would like the two engineers to return for the execution 
phase of the project. 
 
7. (SBU) In Tlemcen, the Ambassador told the wali that the USG hoped 
for improved relations between Algeria and Morocco.  Both countries 
were U.S. friends and we felt greater cooperation would be in the 
interest of both.  The wali then offered a long, bombastic 
soliloquy, mainly demonizing Morocco.  The Moroccans had attacked 
the Algerians when they were down, right after liberation.  "I guess 
they had nothing better to do with their air force except bomb us." 
The Moroccans had accused the Algerians of terrorism and imposed 
visa requirements.  It was then that the border was closed, and he 
did not favor reopening it.  He provided a long history of terrorism 
in Algeria, noting in stock FLN epic narrative terms that Algeria 
had been left all alone by the world, including by the U.S., until 
the 9/ll wake-up call. 
 
8.  (SBU) The wali said the Moroccans were growing and exporting 
drugs.  This was a source of instability throughout the region and a 
growing domestic problem for Algeria.  He cited various recent large 
drug seizures in Tlemcen Wilaya, to nods all around by various 
officials ranged around the room.  The Ambassador observed that U.S. 
experience with Mexico suggested that drug interdiction efforts were 
more effective when the countries on both sides of a shared border 
cooperate.  The wali next did not agree, and noted that the Western 
Sahara issue was also part of the problem.  He spoke at length about 
Algeria's support for the Sahrawi people's right to 
self-determination -- a "matter of principle and international 
legality" -- and called upon the U.S. to play a greater role in 
helping to achieve this goal.  The Ambassador expressed USG support 
for the UN process to resolve the Western Sahara dispute and 
confidence in UN envoy Christopher Ross. 
 
SCHOOL DAYS: ALGERIANS HUNGRY FOR ENGLISH 
 
8. (U) The Ambassador visited the University of Oran Essenia, where 
he met with the rector of the university before touring the American 
Corner opened there in June 2008.  In his meeting with the rector, 
he discussed the Algerian higher education system, the relationship 
between the university and the employment market, as well as 
English-language teaching in Algeria.  The rector expressed the 
university community's gratitude for the opening of the American 
Corner, which he considers a real advantage for encouraging the 
study of English among Algerian students.  In response to a question 
from the Ambassador about the university's future projects, the 
rector said that they are planning to open several doctoral schools 
including one for English teaching, for which cooperation with the 
Embassy would be highly desired.  Concerning the relationship 
between the university and the job market, the two agreed on the 
necessity for the university to provide an education based not only 
on knowledge but also on competences, to help ensure that students 
are able to find jobs upon graduation.  The meeting was followed by 
a tour of the American Corner, during which the Ambassador had the 
opportunity to speak with the Corner's librarian and to several of 
the students who were studying there at the time. 
 
9. (U) Perhaps the highlight of the Ambassador's trip was his visit 
to the Access school in Oran, where he met and interacted with many 
students and teachers of the Access English-language program.  After 
a presentation by students who thanked the Ambassador for his visit 
and the Embassy for its support for the Access program, the 
Ambassador talked with the students who peppered him with questions, 
in English, for a half hour.  The students' level of English 
speaking and comprehension was impressive and their enthusiasm for 
the program and learning English was inspiring. 
 
GOING TO PRESS: MEPI PROJECT SHOWS PROGRESS 
 
10. (U) While in Oran, the Ambassador also visited the offices of 
"La Voix de l'Oranie," a regional newspaper that participated in the 
MEPI-funded Journalism Development Group (JDG) project.  The JDG 
program works with Algerian newspapers to improve journalism 
 
ALGIERS 00000496  003 OF 003 
 
 
standards, profitability, independence and objectivity.  The 
newspaper's owner, editor-in-chief and staff, as well as the 
American JDG director, explained the many changes that had been made 
at the newspaper since the start of the project, including 
constructing an open space for the journalists to work in, 
restructuring the organizational and work flow charts, introducing 
job descriptions and division of responsibilities, and implementing 
a new marketing strategy to increase sales and obtain greater 
private advertising.  The changes were vast and the new marketing 
strategy revolutionary by Algerian standards.  The staff was very 
enthusiastic about the paper's new direction and was optimistic 
about becoming the largest regional paper in western Algeria. 
 
11. (U) Other highlights of the Ambassador's trip included meetings 
in Oran with English Language Fellow Martha Schouten and CEMA 
Director Robert Parks, as well as a dinner in Tlemcen with alumni of 
various USG-sponsored programs such as the Fulbright and Humphrey 
Fellowships and the Youth Enrichment Program.  These meetings 
provided insight into the successes and challenges of USG programs 
and English-language education in Algeria. 
 
12. (U) COMMENT: The trip was an excellent opportunity for outreach 
beyond the capital and garnered positive press coverage in several 
media outlets.  It also allowed the Ambassador to emphasize the 
importance of English-language training in Algeria, especially among 
underprivileged youth, demonstrate support for USG-funded programs 
and for the excellent work and efforts of their implementers, and 
underscore the Embassy's commitment to strengthening U.S.-Algerian 
cooperation and U.S. investment in Algeria.  We have been able to 
maintain a fairly good level of contact and exchange in both Oran 
and Tlemcen even after the closure of Consulate Oran, and we are now 
trying to broaden the net there to tap into the more liberal culture 
in that part of the country, along with the enthusiasm of the young 
people already participating in our projects. 
 
PEARCE