CABEI Request for Meeting with Secretary Snow

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000467 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/EPSC, EB/TPP, INR/B AND DRL/IL STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAM TREASURY FOR DDOUGLASS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD ECON PGOV HO SUBJECT: CABEI Request for Meeting with Secretary Snow ¶1. This is an action request; please see para 3. ¶2. On February 25, Post received the following letter from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), requesting a meeting between CABEI Executive President Harry Brautigam and Secretary of Treasury Snow on the margins of the upcoming Inter American Development Bank Board of Governors meeting, on April 10-12 in Okinawa, Japan. Text of the letter follows in para 4. Post will fax original of the letter to WHA/CEN. ¶3. Action requested: Post requests that Department pass the request to appropriate offices in the Department of Treasury and advise on the response to be delivered to CABEI. ¶4. Begin text: February 15, 2005 Your Excellency: I have the honor of addressing Your Excellency on occasion of the upcoming meeting of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),due to take place on April 10-12 in Okinawa, Japan. Central America is now an emerging market with a prosperous outlook. Regional GDP reached $72.0 billion in 2004 with stable macroeconomic indicators and positive expectations of the ratification of a Free Trade Agreement with the United States of America later this year. A key source of multilateral funding to this region has come from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI),with total assets of $3.5 billion, a capital base of $1.3 billion and yearly disbursements of $1.1 billion. CABEI has undergone important achievements during 2004 which I would like to share with you and explore areas for mutual collaboration to support our founding member countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2000. For this purpose we kindly ask you for an appointment with the Executive President of CABEI, Mr. Harry E. Brautigam and myself, during your stay in Okinawa at the most convenient time and date for your agenda. Should you need additional information, please feel free to contact me, at amb@bcie.org, telephone number (504) 240-2264 and fax (504) 240-2113. Sincerely, /s/ Alfonso Martnez-Bordi Head of the Institutional Relations Department His Excellency The Honorable John W. Snow Secretary of Treasury SIPDIS United States End text Palmer