AFGHAN WTO ACCESSION: MODEST PROGRESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000419

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA/FO, SA/A, EB/BTA FOR MBGOODMAN
TREASURY FOR PARAMESWARAN
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND
COMMERCE FOR AADLER
USTR FOR GHICKS

SENSITIVE

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD EAID PREL AF
SUBJECT: AFGHAN WTO ACCESSION: MODEST PROGRESS

REF: 05 Kabul 3697

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (SBU) The GOA is making modest progress on WTO
accession and plans to reach out to the Afghan private
sector to promote WTO membership. The Afghan Commerce
Ministry, which has the lead on WTO accession, is building
in-house trade capacity to support its accession efforts.
The Embassy will seek to provide assistance for additional
capacity building efforts. End Summary.

-------------- --------------
--------------
PROGRESS ON THE WTO FOREIGN TRADE REGIME MEMORANDUM
-------------- --------------
--------------


2. (SBU) Econoffs met with Sultana Parvanta, an Afghan-
American who is working as a senior advisor to Commerce
Minister Arsala, to discuss the latest developments in the
GOA's WTO accession efforts. Parvanta has the lead on WTO
accession at the Commerce Ministry and heads up an inter-
ministerial task force on accession. She informed Econoffs
that she has completed three chapters of the Foreign Trade
Regime Memorandum (FTRM),which has yet to be vetted with
the task force. (Note: The FTRM describes the status of a
country's commercial and economic laws and must be submitted
to the WTO before formal trade regime negotiations can
begin. In early December 2005, Ambassador Assad Omer, the
GOA's Permanent Representative in Geneva, said a draft of
the FTRM would be completed by March, 2006. At that time,
no part of the FRTM had been written.)

-------------- --------------
---
CAPACITY-BUILDING GATHERS MOMENTUM
-------------- --------------
---


3. (SBU) Parvanta does not have a trade policy background,
has virtually no support staff and is working mightily to
compensate for these deficiencies. She attended a three
week WTO trade policy training course in Geneva in
September, 2005 (expenses paid by UNCTAD) and is now
conducting capacity-building seminars for Ministry staff to
develop in-house know-how to support the accession effort.
In addition, she has been assisted by three junior
consultants, two from Bearing Point and one from the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). One
of the Bearing Point representatives, Khalid Yousefsai, is
an Afghan who recently began attending the WTO's three month
long trade policy course designed to help WTO accession
candidates and will be hired as a permanent Ministry
employee upon his return. Parvanta has also begun working
with three Ministry employees whom she discovered have had
varying levels of trade policy training and they are now
assisting her on accession issues.


4. (SBU) UNCTAD, which has been designated by the Commerce
Ministry as the lead coordinator on accession issues, has
promised to provide Parvanta with a translator. This is
crucial because all accession-related documents must be
translated into both English and Dari. (Note: The inter-
ministerial task force, which includes representatives from
the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Finance,
Agriculture, Mines and Industry, Economy, the Central Bank
(DAB) and other line ministries, has few members who are
fluent in English.) USAID will also provide three new
consultants for trade policy, law and regulation and human
resources.
-------------- --------------
--------------
OUTREACH TO PRIVATE SECTOR ON WTO ACCESSION
-------------- --------------
--------------


5. (SBU) Parvanta plans to reach out to the Afghan private
sector after completing in-house capacity-building at the
Ministry. The purpose of the outreach is to explain the
benefits of WTO membership and the accession process in
order to build private sector support for WTO accession.
Parvanta intends to begin a series of public discussions
with the Afghan business community starting in April. She
has requested USG assistance with this effort. Parvanta
also promised to provide copies of commercials legislation,
both drafts and enacted laws, for USTR to review for WTO
compliance.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


6. (SBU) In a short time Parvanta has made commendable
progress in steering the GOA further down the long road of
WTO accession. Just six weeks ago nothing had been written
for the FTRM and Parvanta, who remains a one-woman show for
Afghanistan's accession efforts, was expressing frustration
about the lack of support she was receiving from both the
GOA and UNCTAD. The Embassy will work with the Department,
USAID, Commerce and USTR to bring Parvanta and a small GOA
team to Washington for inter-agency trade policy training,
similar to the program that was done for Iraq in November,
2004.