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Ambassador in Bahrain that Yemen had voluntarily withdrawn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