FINANCE MINISTER CHANGES TRAVEL PLANS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003603 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2015 TAGS: EFIN IZ OTRA SUBJECT: FINANCE MINISTER CHANGES TRAVEL PLANS REF: A. NEA/I 8/31/05 OI ¶B. BAGHDAD 3546 Classified By: AMBASSADOR ZALMAY KHALILZAD FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) AND (d) ¶1. (C) Further to ref A request, on September 2 the Ambassador called Minister of Finance Allawi to ask that Allawi not/not accompany President Talabani to the United States September 8-16 (ref B). Allawi agreed and said that he needs to stay in Iraq to work on the budget. Allawi will travel later to the US for the annual World Bank/IMF meetings, September 23-25, where he said he intends to meet a number of his Gulf State counterparts to discuss debt relief issues. Allawi also told the Ambassador that he will focus on debt relief during an early October tour of the Gulf States. ¶2. (C) In separate conversations with Emboffs, Allawi said that he will start with the UAE and Kuwait. He also said that he is concerned about the Saudis, and suggested that the US could help him "politically" with the Saudi government. Khalilzad