ITALY TO PROVIDE FIVE MILLION EURO TO UN FOR

UNCLAS ROME 001374 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAID AF IT UNSC AFGHANISTAN SUBJECT: ITALY TO PROVIDE FIVE MILLION EURO TO UN FOR AFGHAN ELECTION AND PARLIAMENT SUPPORT REF: STATE 061560 (U) The Italian Government has approved five million Euro in response to the UN appeal for Afghanistan. Four million Euro are designated for election support, and an additional one million Euro to help establish Afghanistan's new Parliament. Italy on April 3 requested a "letter of acceptance" from the UN in order to complete processing and transfer the funds. Upon receipt of the UN letter, the MFA Development Office for Afghanistan said it might take an additional week or two for bank processing. Essentially, however, our MFA contacts told us, "the ball is in the UN's court" to receive the funds. SEMBLER NNNN 2005ROME01374 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED