PRIME MINISTER SEEKS ADVISOR'S HELP IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003812 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016 TAGS: ECON EINV PGOV PINR IZ SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER SEEKS ADVISOR'S HELP IN ACCELERATING ECONOMIC REFORM REF: A. BAGHDAD 3797 ¶B. BAGHDAD 3789 Classified By: Economic Minister Counselor Daniel Weygandt for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Dr. Mehdi Hafedh, Member of the Council of Representatives (CoR),has been asked by Prime Minister al Maliki to work on accelerating the pace of economic reform. Dr. Hafedh also discussed the investment law and the international compact, considering both good steps forward. End Summary. -------------- Slow Economic Reform -------------- ¶2. (C) Economic reform is still slow, said Dr. Hafedh in an October 11 meeting with econoff. "I'm not satisfied with the pace." Dr. Hafedh is acting as an unofficial advisor to Prime Minister al Maliki. "He is not happy with his team of advisors now. I think that there are too many advisors who are picked to have a political balance instead of sound economic advice." The Prime Minister has asked Dr. Hafedh to convene a conference to examine the bottlenecks in economic reform projects. Dr. Hafedh has stated before to emboffs his concern that "petty partisan politics paralyze the government." (Note: Dr. Hafedh played a key role in passing the region formation law on October 11. He was one of the few members of the Iraqiyya party not to boycott the session, allowing a quorum to be achieved and a vote on the law to proceed (ref B). End Note.) -------------- --- The Investment Law and the International Compact -------------- --- ¶3. (C) Dr. Mehdi Hafedh said that the Investment Law is a good start. "I wanted some of the articles to be more precise," he said, but some members of the committee, and indeed the CoR as a whole, were not ready for more change. (Note: Mr. Hafedh, a member of the CoR Economic Committee, played a large role in presenting the Investment Law during the open debate of the Council of Representatives (ref A). End Note.) Dr. Hafedh has been following the talks of the International Compact. He describes it as "an effort to bring, in particular, the Gulf countries back into more normal relations with us." In principle, he said, the International Compact sounded like a good idea. -------------- Bio-Note -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Dr. Medhi Hafedh is a moderate, and often independent, member of the Iraqiyya party. He is Shi'a. He served as Minister for Planning and Development Cooperation during the Iraqi Interim Government (IIG) under PM Ayad Allawi. He is the founder and chairman of the Iraqi Centre for Development and International Dialogue. He was born in ¶1937. End Bio-note. KHALILZAD