AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FAO DIRECTOR GENERAL DIOUF

UNCLAS ROME 000669

SIPDIS


FROM THE U.S. MISSION TO THE UN AGENCIES IN ROME

USDA/FAS FOR U/S JBPENN, MCHAMBLISS, LREICH AND RHUGHES
USAID FOR A-AA/DCHA WGARVELINK AND DCHA/FFP LAUREN LANDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD EAID EFIN EAGR FAO UN
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FAO DIRECTOR GENERAL DIOUF

REFS (A) STATE 31823 (B) STATE 32130


1. Summary. During a call on the FAO Director General
(DG) the Ambassador raised several issues:

-- The Ambassador outlined the US position on debt relief
(ref A). Diouf said he agreed personally with the points
we outlined, but his organization does not officially have
a position.

-- The US would like to have the Deputy Director and at
least one Assistant Director General slot following the DG
election later this year. Diouf responded that he was not
in a position to discuss this now, but noted that in the
past he had been favorably inclined toward putting
Americans in top slots.

-- We are not as satisfied as we should be with FAO
emergency operations. Diouf said FAO was open to our
suggestions on how to improve them, and added that his
staff had already learned much from the problems incurred
during last year's North Africa locust infestation. He
continued to place a good share of the blame on the donors'
slowness to respond.

-- The Ambassador asked for Diouf's continued cooperation
in encouraging G77 support for the newly underway
Independent External Evaluation process. "We are playing
ball," Diouf responded.

-- FAO should play a role in at least providing technical
and informational support to the Doha Round food aid
discussions. Diouf said he recognized FAO had a role to
play.

End Summary.


2. The Ambassador, accompanied by DCM, called on FAO
Director General Jacques Diouf on February 25 to discuss a
range of issues related to current US interests in the
organization. The Ambassador left Diouf a copy of ref A
talking points on debt relief for heavily indebted
countries. Diouf said he agreed personally with the
general thrust of the US position, although these views
were his own and not those of his organization, which took
no official position. The Ambassador raised several other
issues, as follows.

--------------
Senior Positions
--------------


3. Drawing on ref B talking points, the Ambassador noted
that we understand that with the upcoming DG election still
on the horizon, it may be too early for Diouf to comment on
how the Deputy (DDG) and Assistant Director General (ADG)
positions will be filled. Nevertheless, we wanted to
express now to him our interest in the DDG position and in
filling at least one of the ADG positions with qualified
American candidates. It would be helpful to have position
descriptions for these jobs as we identify the best
possible people. Diouf responded that he could say nothing
now, but that he understood our interest, adding that in
the past he has been favorable to having Americans in
senior positions. Before him, he noted, there had been no
American citizens in the ADG positions.

--------------
Emergency Operations
--------------


4. The Ambassador emphasized that the US would increase
contributions to FAO emergency operations only to the
extent there is confidence among Washington agencies in the
organization's ability to implement projects in the field
effectively. He noted that whereas we had provided funding
for the locust infestation operation, USAID had not
allocated money to FAO's appeal for emergency programs
post-Tsunami, but rather had chosen to fund NGO's instead.
The Ambassador also told Diouf that we are following
closely FAO's "lessons-learned" assessment of difficulties
found in managing the locust crisis.


5. Diouf opened his response by saying that the
organization is more than willing to discuss means to build
American confidence in FAO's emergency operations.
However, he said, FAO had not found difficulty in finding
funding from other countries for its Tsunami appeal and
that more and more countries seem supportive, as evidenced

by their willingness to fund emergency activities.


6. On the locust operation, he admitted that many things
could be improved and that the emergency office was in the
middle of identifying lessons learned. We observed that we
had heard that this assessment was not moving forward as it
should. It was in FAO's interest to identify not only what
regulatory provisions needed changing, but also management
issues. Diouf responded that the fundamental problem was
that money had begun flowing from donors eleven months
after he had asked for donor assistance, and by that time,
the infestation had become a crisis. Nevertheless, he
repeated, they had learned valuable lessons, and FAO was
open to any suggestions we had.

--------------
Oil for Food Investigation
--------------


7. We would like to be able to say that FAO's involvement
in the Oil for Food program was free of the irregularities
that have been found elsewhere, the Ambassador noted. We
would hope that any problems revealed by the Volcker
Commission would be dealt with expeditiously and
effectively. We also hoped for close cooperation as we try
to understand more fully FAO's past operations in Iraq.
Diouf said that FAO had provided everything requested by
the IIC and would cooperate to the extent possible with
others, including ourselves. He added that audit reports
are available if requested by the Program or Finance
Committees.

--------------
Independent External Evaluation
--------------


8. The Ambassador asked for Diouf's support in building
G77, and particularly the African Group's, support for the
Independent External Evaluation that is now in an early
phase. "We are playing ball," Diouf responded. The
evaluation is a good thing for FAO, he agreed, especially
as it raises the profile of FAO activities. He did not
believe that there was lack of support among the Africa or
other regional groups.

--------------
Food Aid and the Doha Round
--------------


9. We are concerned that trade negotiators could make Doha
Round decisions that would limit flexibility in mechanisms
now available for the delivery of food aid, the Ambassador
outlined. He encouraged Diouf to ensure that FAO's
technical expertise in agricultural commodities trade
helped inform the Geneva discussions. Diouf agreed that
FAO should provide facts and technical support. We
elaborated that FAO had a role to play not only in making
input into the Geneva discussions, but also in assisting
donor recipient countries in understanding food aid issues
under discussion. Our recent discussions with G77 permreps
suggested much more needed to be done in order to keep them
abreast of the discussions and the stakes involved.

--------------
Comment
--------------


10. The discussion took place in a friendly business-like
atmosphere. With the exception of debt relief, Diouf
carefully avoided getting aboard any of the initiatives and
positions the Ambassador raised. Nor did he oppose them.
The Ambassador left Diouf single-sheet non-paper copies of
his talking points, issue-by-issue. These points will be
considered in greater detail deeper within the
organization, and we will seek opportunities to raise them
further at other levels.

HALL


NNNN
2005ROME00669 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED