MFA PROMOTES BAHRAINI CANDIDATE FOR FOUNDATION FOR

UNCLAS MANAMA 000474 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA, NEA/ARP, NEA/PI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KMPI BA REFORM REGION SUBJECT: MFA PROMOTES BAHRAINI CANDIDATE FOR FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE BOARD Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly. Not for Internet distribution. ¶1. (SBU) MFA Assistant Under Secretary Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa March 22 strongly promoted the candidacy of Bahrain's Houda Nonoo for a seat on the board of the Foundation for the Future. He understood there were 22 candidates for 12 board seats. In some cases, there were three or four nominees from the same country, whereas only one Bahraini had been nominated. In Shaikh Abdul Aziz's view, there should be only one representative per country, they should come from countries with an active civil society, and there should be diversity among the board members. Nonoo meets all of these qualifications. ¶2. (SBU) Shaikh Abdul Aziz had learned from the Qatari Ambassador in Bahrain that Yemen had voluntarily withdrawn its offer to host the Foundation headquarters, leaving only Jordan and Qatar. While stating that Bahrain had not yet decided who to support, he said that Qatar is giving more money to the Foundation than any other member except for the United States, and "not everything" should be in Jordan. Qatar was actively lobbying to receive Bahrain's support. He said that the decision-making process on where to locate the headquarters must be transparent and based on objective, previously announced criteria. MONROE