VZCZCXRO5274
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHMS #0799/01 2050619
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 240621Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0645
INFO GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000799 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
(GBEHRMAN) 
DEPT FOR S/P 
(AMACDONALD) 
NEA/ARP 
NEA/PPD(DBENZE) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL EAID ECON OEXC KPAO KMPI SOCI XF MU
SUBJECT: OMAN - BUILDING ON THE PRESIDENT'S CAIRO SPECH 
 
REF: STATE 71325 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  In Oman, President Obama's Cairo speech has 
generated both good will and expectations for enhanced cooperation. 
Embassy contacts, especially key players in MSP-critical areas 
including civil society, education, and the empowerment of women, are 
looking to the Embassy and the USG for American expertise, genuine 
(and continuing) partnership, and opportunities to expand individual 
and group capacity.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
THE IDEAL COMBINATION: KNOWLEDGE AND PARTNERSHIP 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The call, per reftel, to survey the local landscape for 
opportunities and openings to build on the Cairo speech came at an 
opportune time during which Post is already engaged in reviewing our 
programming in preparation for the arrival of a new ambassador. The 
key themes that have emerged, from both formal reviews with program 
partners and from private conversations with key contacts, are: 
 
- that U.S. resources are best engaged, in Oman, in making available 
American knowledge, best practices, and examples, across the range of 
activities with which we are involved; 
 
- that such programs are best delivered by trusted program partners 
who are able, in response to strong local cultural norms, to create 
genuine personal and institutional relationships through a continuing 
presence in-country.  Forging these bonds takes time, but once in 
place they are invaluable in forwarding the U.S. agenda; and 
 
- that we are most likely to be effective when building on local 
priorities and taking advantage of "open door" opportunities.  The 
Sultanate's leadership has a definite (if not always wholly 
transparent) program for the country's ongoing development (and, in 
some areas, reform), and we are maximally effective when we can use 
our leverage to advance local priorities.  Good examples include 
education, especially at the primary and secondary levels, in which 
cooperation, especially through MEPI programming, has been highly 
effective on a national scale; rule of law and judicial 
administration, which has proved increasingly receptive to American 
programming; and, across the board, exchanges, which are widely seen 
by our contacts as among the most effective ways that the U.S. can 
impact local actors and audiences. 
 
The importance of continuing two specific initiatives promoting 
judicial and civil-society reform over the past three years will be 
discussed septel. 
 
----------------------------------- 
MOVING FORWARD: AREAS OF ENGAGEMENT 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Within the framework of the three general areas of 
engagement laid out by the Cairo speech, we can provide the following 
initial assessments: 
 
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT:  Embassy outreach in recent years has done much to 
familiarize Omani contacts with how the USG can engage in this broad 
area.  The doors are open for expanded involvement in supporting 
Oman's ambitious education agenda, and with increasing creativity we 
have been able to work effectively even in locally sensitive areas 
such as promoting democracy (working within the local framework of 
enhancing the institutionalization of governance).  Moving forward, 
we could usefully respond to local needs by enhancing health 
diplomacy, particularly in the area of women's health, supporting 
local initiatives to combat, for example, breast cancer and (a 
particularly severe local problem) diabetes. 
 
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INTERFAITH PARTNERSHIP:  Both of these rank high 
among potential areas for increased engagement.  In regard to the 
former, the implementation of the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement has 
clearly demonstrated the need for ongoing education and involvement 
in promoting opportunities it has made possible.  In regard to the 
latter, Oman's tolerant and outward-looking religious establishment 
is open to greater interaction, a prospect assisted substantially by 
the presence in-country of an officially endorsed, U.S.-based center 
for interfaith dialogue.  By regional standards a multicultural 
success story, Oman has the potential to take a greater role as a 
state that balances a strong Islamic heritage with a genuine interest 
in interfaith understanding. 
 
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:  Oman's academic leaders are aware of the 
 
MUSCAT 00000799  002 OF 002 
 
 
pressing need to enhance local capacity in higher education (in order 
to decrease reliance on foreign professionals and provide jobs for 
citizens), to develop research capacity (in support of ambitious 
plans for industrial and commercial development), and grapple with 
development-related issues including water resources, energy 
capacity, and the balance between continuing growth and its effects 
on local ecology.  In all of these areas, enhanced USG resources 
would allow us to engage more deeply and effectively with local 
partners. 
 
------------------- 
THE KEYS TO SUCCESS 
------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) COMMENT:  With fewer than three million citizens, Oman is a 
relatively small country grappling with large-scale issues. 
Consistent factors in Embassy outreach in all areas are the 
relatively limited number of appropriate local partners with which to 
work and the lack, beyond the key contacts in a given field, of 
advanced expertise to carry out the goals of a given project.  As a 
result, we see the greatest impact in those areas in which we are 
able to support the presence of American or American-trained 
professionals in a given field. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED:  To use only one example, the presence 
in Muscat of an AMIDEAST country program (following more than three 
years of sustained Embassy negotiation with the Omani government, 
which resulted in AMIDEAST becoming the first fully recognized 
international non-government organization in the Sultanate) has 
proven transformative in giving the U.S. a platform for projects 
ranging from promoting U.S. higher education to furthering 
educational reform.  We are seeing similar positive impact from the 
presence in-country of U.S.-funded organizations such as AIESEC, 
iEARN, and MEPI program partners the American Bar Association and the 
International Republican Institute (IRI).  In combination with the 
deployment of traditional and new programming tools such as 
exchanges, cultural diplomacy, and information outreach, the presence 
of these organizations are among the most effective multipliers of 
success in forwarding our objectives.  END COMMENT. 
HURTADO