VZCZCXRO5595
PP RUEHLA
DE RUEHMD #1030 2940922
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210922Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1361
INFO RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4165
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0522

UNCLAS MADRID 001030 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
IO/MPR (BRIAN G. HACKETT), USUN/MR (EUGENE CHEN, CHERITH 
NORMAN, AND BRUCE RASHKOW) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC UNGA UNGA
SUBJECT: 64TH UNGA CANDIDATE INFORMATION: JOINT INSPECTION 
UNIT, JOSE CAPEL FERRER 
 
REF: SECSTATE 105347 
 
¶1. (U) Spain requests USG support for Spanish candidate Jose 
Capel Ferrer to the UN Joint Inspection Unit.  The Office of 
the UN and Multilateral Organizations within the Spanish MFA 
provided the following information in support of Spain's 
candidate.  Capel Ferrer has an advanced degree in civil 
engineering and more than 30 years of professional experience 
in the field of transportation.  From 1991 until 2007, Capel 
Ferrer served as Director of the Transport Division of the 
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), 
leading a staff of 40 for the secretariat and responsible for 
the administration and promotion of a large number of 
international legal instruments and recommendations in the 
transportation arena.  During his time in office, Capel 
Ferrer helped strengthen the set of international legal 
instruments under his responsibility: 8 new legal instruments 
were adopted and over 600 new accessions of Member States to 
existing instruments were registered.  He promoted 
inter-country cooperation projects in Eastern Europe, the 
Caucasus, and Central Asia and encouraged greater cooperation 
with other UN organs and information-sharing within the 
organization, with the EU, and with the OSCE. 
 
¶2. (U) Since September 2007, Capel Ferrer has served as 
Director for European Affairs at the Administration of 
Railway Infrastructure, a Spanish public entity. As chief 
inspector and director of the organization, Capel Ferrer 
oversees two European Economic Interest Groupings (EEIGs), 
conducting evaluations, inspections, and investigations on 
the groupings' success in achieving their governance 
responsibilities with respect to management performance, 
budgetary control, and other administrative and financial 
issues.  Capel Ferrer has also been elected Vice President of 
the Transport Committee of the European Center of Public 
Enterprises (CEEP), an organization recognized as a Social 
Partner by the European Commission, and is by delegation, a 
member of the Administration Council of the Center. 
 
¶3. (U) Prior to 1991, Capel Ferrer served as Advisor to the 
President of the International Union of Railways, Director of 
the Spanish Railways for Europe, member of the Governing 
Council of the Official Chamber of Commerce of Spain in 
Paris, elected member of the Governing Council of the 
Association of Chartered Civil Engineers of Spain, and 
professor at Polytechnic University in Madrid. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Independent inquiries revealed no disqualifying 
information.  By all accounts, Capel Ferrer is described as 
an expert in transport issues, specifically with respect to 
infrastructure, safety, environmental impact, inter-modality, 
and border-crossing issues.  His extensive experience and 
successes within the UNECE would suggest that he is qualified 
to serve in the external oversight body. He is fluent in 
Spanish (mother tongue), English, and French. 
 
 
CHACON