GUATEMALA ON WORLD HUNGER SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 002391 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2009 TAGS: EAID EFIN ECON PREL GT SUBJECT: GUATEMALA ON WORLD HUNGER SUMMIT REF: STATE 197337 Classified By: Ambassador John Hamilton for reasons 1.5 (b) & (d). ¶1. (U) The Ambassador took advantage of a previously scheduled meeting with Guatemalan FM Briz to deliver reftel points. ¶2. (U) The Ambassador reviewed the USG's commitment to fighting hunger and alleviating poverty, noting that President Bush had already increased ODA by 50 percent. He stressed, however, that the impractical ideas (such as global taxes) raised in the Hunger Summit sponsors' technical paper threatened to take the international debate on development policy in an unhelpful direction. ¶3. (C) Briz said he had not seen the technical paper prepared by the summit sponsors and appeared to be unfamiliar with the details of the proposal. He noted that the sponsors were not only Brazil but France, Chile and Spain. Without making any firm commitment, he was generally receptive to the Ambassador's demarche. HAMILTON