VZCZCXRO8867
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHSA #2590/01 3511034
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171034Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0642
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCPDC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0350

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 002590 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/S, EEB/ESC, ISN 
DOE FOR M.SCOTT, T.SPERL, G.PERSON, A.BIENAWSKI, L.PARKER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ENRG KNNP ETRD SENV SF
SUBJECT: SAG EAGER TO DEVELOP STRATEGIC DIALOGUE 
 
REF: PRETORIA 2245 
 
 ¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY and Action Request:  The SAG is eager to 
develop a Strategic Dialogue led by the Secretary of State 
and the Foreign Minister.  The idea would be to use existing 
and prospective working groups and the existing Annual 
Bilateral Forum, which would produce a summary document to 
inform the annual meeting of the Ministers.  The Ministers 
would in turn provide direction for the Strategic Dialogue 
and the bilateral relationship.  The next Annual Bilateral 
Forum (ABF) is targeted for March 2010.  Post recommends 
consideration of an Oval Office visit when President Zuma 
attends the Nuclear Security Summit April 12-13 in Washington 
DC.  Post seeks Department's view on whether there should be 
a Memorandum of Understanding for the new Strategic Dialogue 
(see paragraph 6).  The SAG DIRCO USA Desk made a few 
comments about Iran sanctions and Zimbabwe.  End Summary and 
Action Request. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
New Strategic Dialogue Builds on Existing Structures 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Department of International Relations and 
Cooperation (DIRCO) USA Director Fadl Nacerodien told DCM on 
December 10 that his Minister was eager to move forward on 
the Strategic Dialogue agreed to by the Ministers when they 
met in August 2009 in Pretoria.  Nacerodien said his Minister 
would like the Ministers' engagement to be on an annual 
basis.  The DCM and Nacerodien agreed that the term 
"Strategic Dialogue" would be appropriate.  They emphasized 
that the dialogue should be flexible and informal, in 
contrast to the historic binational Gore-Mbeki Commission, 
which was top-heavy and unsustainable. Nacerodien cautioned 
against scheduling the high-level meeting on the margins of 
the UNGA. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Build on the Annual Bilateral Forum 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Nacerodien liked the idea of using the existing 
Annual Bilateral Forum structure as an opportunity for senior 
officials to take note of all the bilateral activities and 
issues, many under existing and prospective working groups. 
He said the next ABF should be targeted for March 2010, but 
said DIRCO could not fix a specific date until the Minister 
approved the structure for the Strategic Dialogue.  The 
advantage of the ABF is that it has been used successfully in 
the past.  Because this meeting involves wide interagency 
participation both on the South African and U.S. sides, it is 
envisaged that it will always take place in South Africa. 
Nacerodien and the DCM agreed that Ambassador Gips and the 
DIRCO Deputy Director General of the Americas and Europe 
would chair the ABF.  The DCM said A/S Carson may try to be a 
special guest at the first new ABF under the Strategic 
Dialogue.  Nacerodien recommended that the DIRCO USA Desk be 
the main interlocutor for preparing and running the ABF, as 
has been done in the past. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Nacerodien noted that the last informal ABF in April 
2009 (led by the Charge and the USA Director and without 
representation of other Departments-agencies for the SAG) was 
productive, but constituted "a long, grueling day".  He 
recommended that the next full-fledged, inter-Departmental 
ABF should be scheduled for a day and a half.  It would be 
QABF should be scheduled for a day and a half.  It would be 
DIRCO's turn to host at their spanking new headquarters. 
Nacerodien recommended that the USG and the SAG work out some 
sort of media statement for the ABF, characterizing the 
Strategic Dialogue and the ABF.  There would need to be 
coordination of brief fact sheets for each issue and each 
working group, which would be appendices to the jointly 
prepared summary document for the Ministers. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Forming New Bilateral Working Groups 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) The DCM and Nacerodien discussed working groups, 
noting that existing formal groups were the DEFCOM (a vestige 
of the Gore-Mbeki Commission) and Health (PEPFAR structure). 
The ABF provides an opportunity to include Defense, but then 
there would be a layer of separation with the Ministers' 
 
PRETORIA 00002590  002 OF 002 
 
 
meeting to avoid any perception that the Secretary of State 
had specific oversight for Defense.  The DCM argued for an 
inclusive approach for other informal working groups where 
there was already bilateral dialogue as for nuclear and law 
enforcement.  An agriculture working group will be 
constituted imminently with the signing of a long-awaited MOU 
between the two Agriculture Ministries.  A US-SA business 
council - not run by governments but encouraged by them to 
promote trade, investment, and a healthy business environment 
- is prospective with the MOU signed this year between CCA 
and Business Union SA (BUSA) at the last CCA in Washington. 
Other potential working groups identified include: 
energy-climate change, education, human rights, trilateral 
assistance, maritime, and economic-trade-ICT.  Both sides 
agreed that we should prioritize and not set up too many new 
working groups.  Post shared a draft list of working groups 
for discussion. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Is a Memorandum of Understanding Needed 
to Establish the Process? 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Nacerodien asked whether a MOU would be necessary 
for structuring the Strategic Dialogue.  Both sides agreed to 
research this with their respective legal offices.  While 
there would be a potential advantage in clarifying structure, 
a requirement of an MOU could delay startup.  Comment: 
Embassy feels that if the Department decides that a legal 
document is preferable, it would be important to structure 
this in a way that would permit us to hold the ABF in March, 
since that meeting was scheduled to take place this Fall, but 
had to be postponed because the South Africans needed more 
time to get ready for it. END COMMENT. 
 
---------------------- 
Other Issues Discussed 
---------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Presidential Visit: Nacerodien noted that President 
Zuma would likely attend President Obama's Nuclear Security 
Summit April 12-13, 2010.  He asked for a copy of the White 
House invitation (request sent separately by Post to ISN by 
e-mail).  The DCM and Nacerodien agreed that this could be a 
good opportunity for an Oval Office visit.  Nacerodien 
expressed a preference that the two 
Presidents meet after the Nuclear Summit if possible. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Iran and Zimbabwe: Nacerodien asked about new Iran 
measures he understood to be under discussion in Congress 
(request sent separately by Post to Department by e-mail). 
He said the SAG and the USG shared the goal of not letting 
Iran obtain illegal nuclear weapons, but the SAG supported 
Iran being able to pursue peaceful uses of nuclear energy 
allowed under the NPT.  He agreed that the SAG should take a 
harder stand on Iran.  Nacerodien also commended what he 
termed the USG's new constructive and supportive approach on 
Zimbabwe.  He claimed that before the USG criticized the SAG 
more than Zimbabwe. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) COMMENT: There is a strong desire on the part of 
the SAG to move forward on the Strategic Dialogue to advance 
our bilateral relationship in a number of areas of mutual 
interest.  In Foreign Minister Mashabane's meeting with the 
Ambassador on November 2 (reftel), she expressed a strong 
desire to move forward on structuring the Strategic Dialogue 
and the DIRCO USA Desk has been tasked to help achieve this 
Qand the DIRCO USA Desk has been tasked to help achieve this 
objective.  END COMMENT. 
 
GIPS