JAPAN'S AMBASSADOR FOR IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION AFFIRMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 005566 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA/I FOR K.TAECKER AID/ANE FOR BEVER AID/PPC FOR NICHOLSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2016 TAGS: EAID PREL PINR IZ JA SUBJECT: JAPAN'S AMBASSADOR FOR IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION AFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR IRAQ COMPACT Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer for reasons 1.4(b),(d) ¶1. (C) Japan's newly appointed Ambassador for Iraqi Reconstruction Gotaro Ogawa September 26 reaffirmed to DCM Japan's support for the International Compact With Iraq. Ogawa believes that following meetings in New York and Abu Dhabi that there is a new momentum to promote the Compact. Ogawa also commented favorably on meetings he held the previous week at the State Department, USAID, and the NSC. He said he plans to attend the first Compact drafting meeting scheduled to be held in Baghdad beginning October 6 and is hopeful the drafting process will proceed quickly. ¶2. (C) Ogawa was encouraged, he said, by the fact that Iraqi leaders have expressed a strong commitment to the process and have proposed several concrete ideas. Most international participants at the meetings Ogawa has attended have expressed support for the Compact. What needs to be done, according to Ogawa, is to widen the participation and also to collect on pledges of support already made. Some European and Gulf countries have pledged support, he noted, but it remains unclear exactly what they mean to do. In addition, many of the pledges made at the Madrid conference have not yet been realized. ¶3. (C) As for Japan, Tokyo intends to remain committed in Iraq through the airlift support missions being flown by Air Self Defense Forces and through continuing efforts to disburse the $3.5 billion worth of loans it has made available. In addition, Japan is considering doing more in support for capacity building. With regard to the loans, four programs worth approximately $700 million have been agreed upon, but Japan cannot find anyone on the Iraqi side willing to sign for the loans. Ogawa said he's not sure what the problem is. Perhaps it's due to a lack of administrative capacity, or maybe something deeper is going on, he speculated. In addition to the four approved projects, four to five others are still in the planning stages. The ability to move forward on development assistance projects depends heavily on an improvement in the security situation, he added. (NOTE: A detailed report of Japanese Official Development Assistance programs in Iraq will follow septel. END NOTE.) -------------- BIO INFORMATION -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Ogawa took up his current position on September 1. His most recent prior posting was as Japan's ambassador to Denmark, where he was also accredited to Lithuania (2003-06). He began his career in 1968 after graduating from Tokyo University's Faculty of Law. High-level assignments have included Director of the First International Economic Affairs Division (1985-86),Director of the First West Europe Division (1986-88),Counselor at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow (1988-90),Counselor and then Minister at the Embassy in Seoul (1990-94),Deputy Director General of the Intelligence and Analysis Bureau (1994-95),Director General of the General Affairs Department at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (1995-98),Consul General in Honolulu (1998-2000),and Ambassador to Cambodia (2000-03). Ambassador Ogawa was born in 1943 in Shizuoka Prefecture and is married to Machiko Ogawa. They have three children. SCHIEFFER