PRELIMINARY IRAQI THINKING ON FALL JCRED

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 004218

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD EFIN EAGR PREL IZ
SUBJECT: PRELIMINARY IRAQI THINKING ON FALL JCRED

REF: BAGHDAD 4084


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified; not for internet
distribution.


2. (SBU) In a meeting with EconOffs and Treasury
Attache on October 12, the Minister of Finance's chief
of staff shared some of FINMIN Allawi's thinking on the
next US/Iraq Joint Commission on Reconstruction and
Economic Development (JCRED),currently scheduled for
November. He told us that Allawi envisioned that the Iraqi
delegation would include the Ministry of Agriculture,
Ministry of Industry and Minerals, Minister of Planning,
Central Bank of Iraq, the Trade Bank of Iraq and the
Ministry of Trade.


3. (SBU) Our contact said that an agenda could be built
around the priorities of the respective Ministries, as
well as economic reform, private sector development,
and various banking and trade issues. Both sides also
could use the JCRED to have smaller discussions
on more sensitive topics. We suggested that the Arab
League Boycott might be usefully addressed at a more
restricted meeting. Our contact confirmed that Allawi
has not yet thought what kind of deliverables
could be prepared for the meeting and is open to
suggestions. Allawi, however, does not want to
travel to the US but rather wants a meeting close by
and suggested Istanbul or Dubai as alternatives. Our
interlocutor opined that, as much as the GOI would
like to host the JCRED in Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq,
this would be difficult under current conditions.


4. (SBU) We urged that Allawi help push forward
the three US/Iraq agreements -- the US/Iraq Investment
Incentive Agreement, US/Iraq Trade and Investment
Framework Agreement (TIFA),and the US/Iraq Agreement for
Economic and Technical Cooperation (Bilateral Assistance
Agreement) -- from the July JCRED meeting that currently
are hung up in the Presidency Council. Our concern is
that the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) still
has to ratify these and, due to the domestic political
season, would be going on break for 2 weeks starting
Sunday, October 16. He agreed to raise our concerns to
Allawi to see what might be done to expedite
ratification of these agreements.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: The attention of the Iraqi political
class to the Constitutional Referendum and local security
concerns have made it difficult to raise pending JCRED
issues with suitable interlocutors. Given the pending
legislative recess, Embassy believes that a late November
or early December JCRED would make more sense than an
event in mid-November. Please advise. END COMMENT.
Khalilzad