COTE D'IVOIRE ON EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000753 SIPDIS SIPDIS EEB FOR MAUEL, HAENDLER AND HAYMOND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHER STATE PASS TO USTR TREASURY FOR D. PETERS, USED COMMERCE FOR RIVERO USAID FOR C. GARRETT ACCRA USAID/WARP FOR K. MCCOWAN, P. RICHARDSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2017 TAGS: EMIN ENRG EPET PGOV PREL ECON IBRD IV SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE ON EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE REF: SECSTATE 75118 Classified By: EMassinga, Acting PolEcon Chief, Reasons, 1.4 (b,d ¶1. (C) Emboff met with Presidential diplomatic advisor Ambassador Ottra Toure on July 10 to follow up a June 19 delivery of reftel letter and points to President Gbagbo by the U.K.'s DFID. During the conversation, Ambassador Ottra Toure appeared siezed with the issue, although she said that neither she nor the President had seen it or were aware of the August 31 deadline. She promised to convene a working session with Emboff and the Presidency's energy counselor in the coming week to discuss the matter. ¶2. (C) Emboff told the Ambassador that while to date neither the U.S., U.K, IMF or World Bank were making Cote d'Ivoire's participation in the initiative a pre-requisite for the IFIs reengagement (Board votes for both the WB and IMF are scheduled this month on a combined initial package of over USD 240 million),Cote d'Ivoire's membership in the initiative would be seen very favorably. The international community is trying to encourage greater transparency related to oil, gas and electricity generation revenues by the Ivorian government in the context of the pending post-conflict assistance package, and officials from both international lending institutions believe Cote d'Ivoire's full participation in the EITI would complement those efforts nicely. ¶3. (C) Post has informed the local U.K. representative and IFIs officials of the demarche to Ottra Toure. The U.K. representative may follow up with a separate demarche to the Presidential energy counselor prior to Post's upcoming meeting with Ambassador Ottra Toure. HOOKS