FRANCE: GOF DELEGATION TO FOURTH GLOBAL FORUM ON

UNCLAS PARIS 002896

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL/C JOHN BRANDOLINO AND DAVID LUNA
STATE ALSO PLS PASS TO USAID FOR JERRY O'BRIEN
BRASILIA FOR ALESSANDRA LISBOA AND BARBARA RAMOS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV SOCI KCRM KFRD PINR PINS PREL FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE: GOF DELEGATION TO FOURTH GLOBAL FORUM ON
FIGHTING CORRUPTION, BRASILIA, BRAZIL, JUNE 7-10, 2005

REF: STATE 63279


1. EconOff contacted Virginia Tonniatti, Counselor at the
Brazilian Embassy in Paris, regarding the possibility of jointly
meeting with GOF officials to encourage strong, Minister-led GOF
participation in the Fourth Global Forum on Fighting Corruption.
Tonniatti was familiar with the topic of the Global Forum, but
needed guidance from Brasilia concerning our proposal (per
reftel) for a joint demarche. After seeking such guidance,
Tonniatti said that Brasilia still had not responded more than a
week later and she declined our offer to do a joint demarche.


2. We proceeded by contacting anti-corruption experts in three
GOF ministries. From the Interior Ministry, Pierre Soccoja said
that he had just returned from a UN conference on organized
crime in Bangkok and he would be attending the Global Forum as
an expert speaker identified by the OECD. An expert on public
procurement, Soccoja will be speaking in Brasilia on the issues
of risk identification and improving disclosure. Soccoja could
not say who might form the GOF delegation, but he did informally
comment that the timing of the Global Forum was unfortunate.
Soccoja noted that the June 7-10 timeframe comes just after an
importation national referendum on the EU constitution, which
may well result in a GOF reshuffle. Soccoja thought it unlikely
that any GOF Minister would commit to attending the Global Forum
given the uncertain domestic realities facing the GOF after the
May 29 vote.


3. Econoff also shared reftel talking points with anti-
corruption official Regis Pelissier of the Finance Ministry. An
expert in financial transactions and fraud prevention, Pelissier
did not offer any comments on the make-up of the GOF delegation
to the Global Forum.


4. Poloff shared reftel demarche with Jean-Louis Bertrand, desk
officer for corruption and organized crime in the MFA's Bureau
of Strategic, Security and Disarmament Affairs. Bertrand agreed
that a high-level presence would be useful, but did not know who
would lead the GOF delegation. He said he would convey our
points to Ambassador-at-Large for Anti-Corruption and Organized
Crime Jean-Pierre Vidon.

WOLFF