VZCZCXRO1092
PP RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR RUEHFL RUEHHM RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP
RUEHPB RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKU #0643/01 1800613
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 290613Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3578
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 2032
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1172
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000643 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, EUR/ERA, ISN/RA, ISN/NESS 
PARIS FOR ECON 
AMMAN FOR ESTH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2019 
TAGS: PREL EINV ETRD ECON ECIP ENRG KU FR
SUBJECT: KUWAIT-FRANCE NUCLEAR COOPERATION 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 143 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 578 
     ¶C. KUWAIT 184 
 
Classified By: EconCouns Oliver B. John for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde 
visited Kuwait June 20-21 for the twelfth meeting of the 
Kuwait-France Joint Economic Committee.  Local media and 
wires played up French-Kuwaiti nuclear cooperation both from 
her talks with the Amir and from the concurrent visit by 
representatives of France's state-owned Areva.   Contacts in 
the GoK, however, stress that there was much less to the 
meetings than portrayed in the press.  Minister Lagarde's 
visit comes four months after President Sarkozy discussed 
security cooperation with the GOK, part of his government's 
high-profile endeavor to significantly expand the GOF's 
defense and commercial links with GCC nations.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde engaged in 
high-level talks with the GOK June 21, as part of the twelfth 
meeting of the Kuwait-France Joint Economic Committee, the 
first such meeting since 2006.  According to the official 
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Lagarde's talks with Amir Sabah 
Al-Sabah focused on nuclear power cooperation and Islamic 
finance.  Other topics discussed by Lagarde's delegation and 
GOK officials included civil aviation, public health 
partnerships and infrastructure development. Accroding to 
Sheikh Jarrah Al-Sabah from the MFA's Economic Department, 
the "technical meetings" of the Joint Economic Committee 
focused on making minor revisions to the agreed minutes from 
the 2006 meeting and on signing an Agreement on Cooperation 
in Development and Infrastructure for Communications, which 
he said had already been "teed-up" before the meetings. 
 
¶3. (C) The talks come four months after President Sarkozy 
discussed arms sales, including the possible sale of dozens 
of Rafale fighter jets, with the GOK (ref A) and two months 
after heavily publicized war games involving Kuwaiti and 
French forces in northern Kuwait -- and less than a month 
after Sarkozy formally opened the GOF's first military "base" 
in the Gulf, in Abu Dhabi.  These and other GOF initiatives 
are part of the Sarkozy administration's effort to reinforce 
France's presence in the region in line with its "Defense 
White Book" designation of the Gulf as a strategic "priority 
zone" (ref A). 
 
¶4. (SBU) In recent months, Kuwait has taken steps to further 
plan for nuclear power generation.  In the wake of Sarkozy's 
February 2009 visit, a GOK technical team visited France to 
discuss nuclear cooperation with GOF officials and 
representatives of Areva, the giant nuclear power generation 
and electricity transmission company, which is majority owned 
by the French Government.  (Note: Areva and another French 
state-owned company, EDF, are part of a French consortium 
bidding on a project to build nuclear reactors in the UAE. 
End Note).  In March, an Amiri Decree established the 
National Committee for Using Nuclear Energy for Peaceful 
Purposes, chaired by the Prime Minister, with a secretariat 
headed by former OPEC acting secretary-general, Dr. Adnan 
Shihab-Eldin. 
 
¶5. (C) Concurrent with Lagarde's visit, Areva representatives 
undertook meetings with GOK officials, ostensibly to discuss 
nuclear cooperation.  However, Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin told 
Econcouns that Minister Lagarde had oversold the Areva talks. 
 He acknowledged that GOK officials had met with Areva and 
discussed nuclear reactor technology, but said that the main 
purpose of Areva's visit was to discuss mining sector 
projects in Kazakhstan and Mongolia with the Kuwait 
Investment Authority (KIA), Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund. 
 
¶6. (C) Eldin stated that the French do have a lead in nuclear 
cooperation talks with the GOK.  He said that "they came here 
quickly" and that the Amir liked what he heard.  He said that 
French firms have significant experience and expertise in the 
realm of nuclear power and that he, personally, likes their 
technology.  That said, he stressed, that the GoK is nowhere 
near to making a decision on reactor technology, and that 
even if the GOK were to go with French technology, there 
would be opportunities for U.S. firms, given the close U.S. - 
 
KUWAIT 00000643  002 OF 002 
 
 
Kuwaiti strategic relationship. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. (S) Although there appears to be less to this visit than 
meets the eye, the French continue to work assiduously to 
deepen their relationship with the GOK and the rest of the 
GCC states.  Proactive lobbying by Sarkozy, Lagarde and other 
GOF officials -- and a dearth of public interest from other 
suitors -- is feeding speculation that Kuwait and France will 
embark on nuclear power generation cooperation.  However, 
from what GoK officials have told us and what we know about 
Kuwait's own glacial decision making processes, it appears 
certain that the French are overselling the progress of these 
talks.  Nevertheless, interest in nuclear power generation is 
on the rise throughout the Arab nations of the Gulf and 
French firms currently dominate discussion of all such 
development programs.  End Comment. 
 
********************************************* ********* 
For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: 
visit Kuwait's Classified Website at: 
 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it 
********************************************* ********* 
JONES