UAE CENTRAL BANK ANNOUNCES SECOND INTERNATIONAL

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000717 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP - HEFFERNAN, NEA/RA -SUTPHIN, EB/ESC/ESP, INL/C - CASSARA, INL/ENT - NOVIS, AND S/CT - REALUYO TREASURY FOR ENFORCEMENT DAS JUAN ZARATE AND IEA DIRECTOR BOYLAN, ALSO FOR LONERGAN TREASURY PASS FINCEN FOR NEAU TREASURY PASS OTA FOR N. WORTHINGTON TREASURY PASS OFAC FOR NEWCOMB JUSTICE FOR ASSET FORFEITURE AND ML UNIT -- DEPUTY CHIEF DAVITT, ALSO TED GREENBERG JUSTICE PASS OPDAT FOR SILVERWOOD NSC FOR GARY PETERS E.O. 12958: DECL: NA TAGS: PTER EFIN ETTC PREL PGOV TC SUBJECT: UAE CENTRAL BANK ANNOUNCES SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HAWALA, APRIL 3-4, 2004 REF: 02 ABU DHABI 2522 ¶1. This is an action request; please see paragraph 5. ¶2. Following the very successful May 2002 Hawala Conference in Abu Dhabi (reftel),the UAE Central Bank is prepared to host the Second International Conference on Hawala in Abu Dhabi, April 3-4, 2004. The Central Bank intended to hold the follow-up conference last spring, but cancelled the forum once hostilities commenced in Iraq. ¶3. The theme of this year's Hawala Conference will be "Best Practices on the Supervision of Informal Funds Transfer Systems." The preliminary agenda includes panel discussions by representatives from FATF, law enforcement agencies, and academia, and presentations from banking representatives from Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa among others. More than 400 participants attended the 2002 Hawala Conference, and subsequently agreed to further examine informal remittance networks in the "Abu Dhabi Declaration on Hawala." ¶4. Comment: Additional information regarding the conference agenda and a registration form is available on the UAE Central Bank's website (WWW.CBUAE.GOV.AE). The draft agenda does not mention charities and charitable organizations, despite the Governor's earlier indications that the topic would be discussed during or on the margins of the Second Hawala Conference. End comment. ¶5. Action request: The Central Bank advises interested parties to register for the conference by April 1, 2004 via the website. Post requests that USG participants also forward their names to Econoff Cara Martin-Crumpler (email: MARTIN-CRUMPLERCE@STATE.GOV) to coordinate travel and accommodations. This will ensure that the U.S. delegation can be located together, simplifying considerably the logistical arrangements. Official USG visitors also must obtain country clearance approval prior to their travel to the UAE. End action request. WAHBA