AMF DIRECTOR GENERAL UNHAPPY AT IRAQ PREP GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 003942

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, EB/IFD/ODF
TREASURY FOR DAS SAEED

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2016
TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN IZ AE
SUBJECT: AMF DIRECTOR GENERAL UNHAPPY AT IRAQ PREP GROUP
EXCLUSION

REF: ABU DHABI 3100

Classified By: CDA Martin Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b &d).



1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 5.


2. (C) On the margins of the Qatari National Day reception,
Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) Director General, Jassem Al-Mannai
expressed his disappointment to Econchief that the AMF had
not been invited to participate in the Iraq Preparatory group
meeting in Abu Dhabi on September 10. He explained that he
had met with Iraqi Central Bank Governor Shabibi at the
IMF/World Bank Annual meetings in Singapore and that Shabibi
(assuming that the AMF had been invited) had asked why he did
not attend the preparatory group meeting. Al-Mannai
commented that he found it awkward to hold consultations on
Iraq with the USG in July and not to be invited to a
preparatory group meeting less than two months later,
especially one held in the same city as the AMF's
headquarters. Econchief explained that the invitations had
been issued by the United Nations on behalf of the Government
of Iraq, not by the USG and noted that there had been certain
criteria used to determine preparatory group members.


3. (SBU) In response, Al-Mannai noted that the Iraqis held
proportionately a larger share of the Arab Monetary Fund than
they held in any other regional financial institution.
(Note: Iraq and Algeria are tied as the second largest
shareholders in the AMF, behind Saudi Arabia. End Note.)
The Iraqis were also the AMF's largest defaulter nation.
Although the AMF could not extend any new loans to Iraq until
these arrears were restructured, Al-Mannai noted the
extensive training program that the AMF has provided to Iraq,
including 31 special macroeconomic/financial programming
courses in 2005, jointly conducted with the IMF.


4. (C) Al-Mannai stressed that the AMF remained committed to
working with Iraq. When Econchief promised to relay his
concerns to Washington, Al-Mannai (unconvincingly) denied
that he was pushing for a role in the preparatory group. He
said, however, that he would need to consider whether future
consultations with the USG on Iraq made sense, since the AMF
would clearly be "out of the loop" on the Iraq Compact and
would not be able to contribute anything to the
consultations.


5. (SBU) Action Request: Please advise whether it makes sense
for the AMF to be invited to future Iraq Compact events. If
not, please advise on any further points post should make to
address Al-Mannai's comments. End Action Request.
QUINN