DUTCH COMMENTS ON BOLIVIA SUPPORT GROUP

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000022 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR WHA/AND, EUR/UBI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: BL EFIN NL PGOV PREL SUBJECT: DUTCH COMMENTS ON BOLIVIA SUPPORT GROUP REF: STATE 349273 ¶1. EconOff delivered ref demarche on January 5 to Jan Plantingha of the MFA's Western Hemisphere Division (Note: MFA was closed week of December 29, 2003. End Note). Plantingha said the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington had received the invitation/agenda to the Bolivia Support Group. Someone from the Dutch embassy will attend, but it is not yet certain who it will be. The Dutch embassy should be in touch directly with WHA/AND. ¶2. Plantingha offered two unofficial comments. First, the organization of the Support Group has come earlier than the MFA had expected. This shows that the State Department is taking the process seriously, he opined. He commented that he sees the Support Group is a "link to the follow-up" from the consultative group. Second, he was surprised that the European Commission has not been invited to attend the January 16 meeting. He wondered aloud what the reason could be for this omission. RUSSEL