DEVELOPMENT NEGOTIATIONS PAUSE AS G77 DEPARTS FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 001079 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2016 TAGS: EAID EFIN KUNR UNGA SUBJECT: DEVELOPMENT NEGOTIATIONS PAUSE AS G77 DEPARTS FOR NAM SUMMIT REF: (A)USUN 1034 (B)STATE 85232 Classified By: Ambassador Terry Miller. Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 1.(SBU) Informal negotiations on the Development Follow-up Resolution have paused until June 5, when the G-77 team will be back in New York and ready to engage. The facilitator for these negotiations has noted his intention to move into daily sessions at that time to meet an informal deadline of June 15 laid out by the President of the General Assembly. The US has asked for meetings to resume earlier -- even in a small group format -- if the G-77 can field a negotiating team. Many delegations have noted that working past mid-June on this resolution or on the ECOSOC Reform resolution will become impossible due to the intense preparations expected to be underway for the ECOSOC Summer Session, which opens July 3 in Geneva. 2.(SBU) Ambassador Miller will be meeting with G77 Chair Ambassador Kumalo June 2 on his return from a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting in Kuala Lumpur to intensify the dialogue on the economic and development issues contained within the non-paper referenced in ref (B). 3.(C) Per ref (B),we also met with the Co-chair for the Development Follow-up resolution, Ambassador Verbeke of Belgium, to request re-circulation of the Co-chairs' draft resolution from January. Amb Verbeke acknowledged that the negotiations needed a fresh start, but felt that re-circulation of the Co-chairs' text would be seen by the G-77 as "provocative." He and Ambassador Miller discussed alternative ways to generate momentum, including the possibility of a new Co-chairs' text and the likelihood that the Co-chairs would need to take control of the negotiating process from the facilitator at some point. BOLTON