INFORMAL DISCUSSION OF G8 SUMMIT WITH THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 000966

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2015
TAGS: EAID EFIN ETRD SF
SUBJECT: INFORMAL DISCUSSION OF G8 SUMMIT WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS


Classified By: AMBASSADOR FRAZER; REASONS 1.4 (b/d).


1. (C) Summary. Ambassador Frazer told Foreign Affairs
officials that the Monterrey agreements represent the correct
blend of policies and initiatives to support growth in
Africa. This view would again govern the U.S. approach to
the G8 Summit. The U.S. had already exceeded its Monterey
commitments. She agreed that ODA has a role, but emphasized
that the U.S. does not support calls to double ODA or the
IFF. African countries should not expect major, new
initiatives at Gleneagles. The U.S. would want to discuss
debt relief. The Blair Commission report unfortunately
focused on inputs, not outcomes; the U.S. would strongly
resist attempts to use the report to embarrass the U.S. The
Ambassador suggested that having climate change on the G8
agenda could present an opportunity to look beyond Kyoto.
End Summary.


2. (C) At the request of the Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA),Ambassador Frazer met March 2 with officials of the
Economic Directorate and the U.S. Directorate for an informal
discussion of issues that may arise at the Gleneagles G8
Summit. Economic M-C accompanied the Ambassador. John
Davies, Chief Director, Economic Development, explained that
President Mbkei was keenly interested in plans of the summit.
South Africa sees Gleneagles as the culmination of work
begun at Kananaskis and is pleased that the UK had made
Africa the focus of the summit. South Africa, however, is
nervous that this might produce high expectations that would
not be fulfilled. Davies said DFA was meeting individually
with G8 ambassadors to obtain a sense of what might be
expected to come out of the summit. DFA would subsequently
brief President Mbeki.


3. (SBU) Ambassador Frazer said that the Pretoria-based G8
ambassadors had met several times to share informally
information on planning for the summit. She underlined that
the Sherpa process manages preparations for G8 summits and
that local ambassadors could not speak authoritatively on the
subject.

Development Assistance Debate
--------------


4. (C) The Ambassador stated that the U.S. believes that
the Monterrey Development Financing Conference agreements
represent the correct blend of policies and initiatives to
support growth in Africa. Monterey, correctly in the U.S.
view, focused on outcomes, not inputs. She said that this
philosophy would again govern the U.S. approach to the G8
Summit. The Ambassador emphasized that the U.S. had already
exceeded its Monterey commitments. It had also quadrupled
its assistance to Africa. She asked if African countries
were doing their part. Was NEPAD really producing better
governance?


5. (C) Davies replied that South Africa believes that NEPAD
is effectively separating out countries that are producing
results in governance and economic development. NEPAD is
heading in the right direction. South Africa accepts that
good governance is needed, but financial resources are
required, too. Davies argued that African countries that are
making progress in governance and development should be
assured of external support through ODA.


6. (C) Ambassador Frazer agreed that ODA has a role, but
emphasized that the U.S. does not agree with the analysis
arguing for a doubling ODA and therefore does not support
this proposal. An exclusive focus on ODA only perpetuates
dependency on ODA. The Ambassador recalled that the U.S. had
established the Millennium Challenge Account and the
President,s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to respond to
Africa Plan of Action and commitments made at Kananaskis.
She also cited as an example of support for the Action Plan
U.S. funding for training and equipment for African
peacekeeping battalions.


7. (C) Davies said South Africa understood that some G8
members opposed ideas to increase ODA through initiatives
such as a global tax. The Ambassador replied that a global
tax was simply out of question. She also said the U.S. would
not agree to the IFF. We cannot do it constitutionally. If
others want to establish the IFF, that is fine. They can go
ahead. Davies replied that an IFF was probably not possible;
perhaps a small, pilot facility might be established to focus
on a specific issue, such as Malaria.

G8 Summit Outcomes
--------------

8. (C) The Ambassador emphasized that the G8 was committed
to helping address Africa,s development challenges; the
debate at Gleneagles would again be on how to do it. The
Ambassador told the DFA officials that African countries
should not expect that the G8 would agree on everything and
they should not expect major, new initiatives. Gleneagles
was unlikely to produce financial commitments for specific
NEPAD projects, for example. The U.S. approach at Gleneagles
would likely concentrate on outcomes. The U.S. would like an
evaluation of what the G8-Africa partnership had accomplished
over the last five years. The Ambassador assured Davies that
there was room for consensus at Gleneagles.


9. (C) Ambassador Frazer told the DFA officials that the
U.S. would want to discuss during the summit proposals to
help the poorest countries further address the sustainability
of their debt burden. She noted that the U.S. had proposed
that the IDA, AfDF and bilateral creditors write off 100
percent of debt for qualifying HIPC countries. Econ M-C
pointed out that U.S. Treasury officials had discussed our
initiative with the South Africa Finance Minister on several
occasions and provided the DFA officials with a non-paper and
fact sheet on debt relief.


10. (C) Noting that five European countries now met the UN
target of 0.7 percent of GDP for ODA, Davies asked if the
U.S. would consider committing to this goal. The Ambassador
said she could not imagine the U.S. accepting this target.
She reminded the officials that the U.S. was the largest
single ODA donor. Ambassador Frazer emphasized that in
absolute terms U.S. ODA was far more important than the 0.7
percent of GDP ODA of those five European donors.


11. (C) Asked by U.S. Director Jan van Vollenhoven what she
would like to see come out of Gleneagles, the Ambassador
suggested agreements to cancel debt and to end agricultural
subsidies and domestic supports. She also said she would
like to see the Congo put on the table and an agreement
reached on G8 coordination to support that peace process.
She hoped the G8 and African countries would look at the
development challenges and commit money to address them, not
debate an artificial target for ODA levels.


12. (C) Asked if the G8 would move at Gleneagles to
integrate their financial initiatives, the Ambassador noted
that during their recent meeting President Mbeki had recalled
such an agreement at Sea Island. The Ambassador noted that
this was not the U.S. understanding.


13. (C) Davies expressed concern about references to a
&final8 African Personal Representatives (APR) report and
wondered what would be the future of the APRs. The
Ambassador said the APR,s now appear to be semi-permanent as
G8 representatives in the Africa Partnership Forum (APF).
She noted that the APF was perhaps a better forum for follow
up on G8 initiatives as it included other bilateral donors,
multilateral donors and regional organizations. The
Ambassador also pointed out that G8 Summit participants would
be faced with two reports on Africa, one from the Africa
Personal Representatives and one from the Blair Commission,
in all over two hundred recommendations. Which plan would
prevail?

Commission for Africa
--------------


14. (C) Asked to comment on PM Blair,s Commission for
Africa report, the Ambassador noted that the U.S. and UK had
consulted regularly on the project. She said that the U.S.
felt that donor countries had studied Africa,s development
problems enough and the focus should now be on actions to
solve the problems. The Commission,s work, however, again
focused on inputs, not outcomes. The Commission report was
really a platform for NGOs to argue for more assistance. The
Ambassador said the U.S. would not oppose European
governments giving more development assistance if they
wished. The U.S., however, would strongly resist attempts to
use the Blair Commission report to embarrass it.


15. (C) Davies noted the overwhelming international
response to the Asian tsunami disaster and asked why the
international community could not respond similarly to the
Blair Commission report. The Ambassador pointed out that
while the tsunami was a natural disaster, Africa,s disasters
were largely man-made; e.g., Cote d,Ivoire, Congo and Sudan.
She emphasized that the U.S. would always provide
humanitarian assistance and noted as examples food aid to
Afghanistan even with the Taliban and HIV/AIDS assistance for
Haiti. She said the U.S. Congress always supported
humanitarian assistance, but it was skeptical of arguments
for funding to address self-inflicted disasters. Davies
acknowledged that the U.S. had always responded generously to
humanitarian disasters.

Climate Change
--------------


16. (C) Davies asked if the UK had consulted with the U.S.
before making climate change one of its priorities for the G8
Summit. The Ambassador opined that the two governments had
probably consulted and pointed out that having climate change
on the agenda could present an opportunity to look beyond
Kyoto. She underlined that the U.S. supports the need to
address climate change and is, in fact, taking concrete steps
to address it. The U.S. just does not believe that Kyoto is
the best way to do it. Econ M-C noted that the U.S. has
numerous initiatives under way to address climate change and
provided DFA officials a fact sheet on U.S. programs. He
also pointed out that the U.S. and South Africa cooperate in
many climate change initiatives, including a bilateral
dialogue, the Group on Earth Observations and the Carbon
Sequestration Leadership Forum.

FRAZER