TURKMENISTAN: USAID DAA LUTEN PROPOSES MFA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000754

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/ACE, EEB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ECON EAGR EAID TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: USAID DAA LUTEN PROPOSES MFA
SIMPLIFY PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING U.S. ASSISTANCE



1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.

SUMMARY


2. (SBU) Deputy Foreign Minister Wepa Hajiyev was pleasant
but non-committal to proposals for more direct contacts
between embassy personnel and working-level Turkmenistan
officials during a 60-minute meeting July 23 with USAID
Deputy Assistant Administrator Drew Luten. Hajiyev expressed
appreciation for USAID's efforts to assist Turkmenistan to
meet its development priorities and pledged that the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs will seek to support USAID's programs in
Turkmenistan, even changing procedures when there is
value-added to such changes. While Hajiyev agreed that
signing memoranda of understanding (MoU's) between USAID and
counterpart government agencies would benefit both sides, he
preferred to remain, for now, with the MFA's requirement that
any working-level "direct contacts" -- even in cases where
the contacts would be addressing projects covered by MoU's --
be arranged by telephoning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We will continue to work to simplify this process. END
SUMMARY.

HAJIYEV: MFA SUPPORTS USAID'S ACTIVITIES


3. (SBU) Hajiyev attended the meeting for Deputy Chairman of
the Cabinet of Ministers and Foreign Minister Rashit Meredov,
whom he said reportedly was unable to return from a major
government meeting held in the Caspian port city of
Turkmenbashy in time to meet with Luten. Speaking for MFA,
Hajiyev expressed satisfaction with USAID activities, and
stressed his ministry's wish to assist USAID with its work.
He also thanked Luten for the warm welcome that Minister of
Economy and Finance Hojamyrat Geldimyradov received when he
was in Washington for the July 17-19 Central Asia Trade and
Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) annual meeting.


4. (SBU) Luten noted that his visit was one of a series of
visits agreed to in February between State Department
Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs
Richard Boucher and Turkmenistan's President Berdimuhamedov.
Luten stressed that the United States wants to work toward a
broad-based program of cooperation to support Turkmenistan's
economic development in areas that Berdimuhamedov has
identified as development priorities, including foreign
investment and agriculture. Luten noted USAID's office in
Almaty, Kazakhstan awarded a contract last week to support
the "AgLinks" ("Agricultural Linkages") program, which could
help support Turkmenistan's agricultural development.

USAID PROGRAMS SHOULD BE LINKED TO TURKMENISTAN'S FRAMEWORK


5. (SBU) Thanking the United States for its interest in
promoting Turkmenistan's development, Hajiyev noted the
importance of identifying points of mutual interest between
Turkmenistan's plans and U.S. proposals. "Speaking
undiplomatically," Hajiyev continued, "sometimes the U.S. and
Turkmenistani governments do not know what they want of each
other. While some U.S. proposals are useful, they need to be
linked to Turkmenistan's requirements, conditions and
framework. The way the two countries establish and seek to
broaden cooperation will affect programs in other areas.

MFA WILLING TO CHANGE PROCEDURES, IF NECESSARY


6. (SBU) Hajiyev maintained that existing systems for
working USAID projects are "sufficiently effective," but
added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognizes changes
may be needed as cooperation increases. The ministry is
willing to consider proposals for such changes from the
United States and to implement new ways of doing things if
those suggestions benefit both sides.

ASHGABAT 00000754 002 OF 003




7. (SBU) Luten suggested an ideal cooperative relationship
in our view involves two elements:

-- The United States should understand Turkmenistan's goals;
and

-- Turkmenistan's authorities should recognize that the
United States has international expertise and experience it
can bring to the bilateral dialogue that would help inform
the Government of Turkmenistan's plans for achieving its
goals.

According to U.S. experience, cooperative programs with other
countries work best when these two elements are present. He
noted that USAID has a good dialogue with Turkmenistan's
authorities, and wants to keep working on communication.

LUTEN PROPOSES MOU'S FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE PROJECTS


8. (SBU) In order to improve communication, Luten said, the
United States would like to explore the possibility for
developing Memoranda of Understanding (MoU's) for individual
assistance projects that would outline the goals of such
projects, spell out how communication would be handled, and
provide greater understanding on steps that would be needed
to implement the programs. USAID/CAR Senior Economist
Michael Boyd added USAID will propose an MoU for the
suggested AgLinks program. Such an MoU would designate a
government counterpart and point of contact -- the Ministry
of Agriculture, for example -- with which USAID could work to
implement the project. Under this arrangement, USAID could
work directly with its counterpart, rather than needing to
submit diplomatic notes through the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. This would increase transparency, streamline
implementation and promote closer direct contacts.


9. (SBU) Charge noted increased bilateral interaction in
recent months has strained the ministry's Americas desk
because the United States is sending increasingly more
diplomatic notes and making more requests. Using MoU's would
allow embassy officers working on projects covered by an MoU
to work directly with the designated agency, rather than
forcing ministry officials to try to work all the U.S.
requests. And, in fact, such an arrangement has worked very
well elsewhere, including in Kazakhstan.

MFA WANTS TO RETAIN CURRENT SYSTEM OF "DIRECT CONTACTS"


10. (SBU) Hajiyev, noting that the ministry's team was very
effective, responded that, just as the United States wants to
know what Turkmenistan wants, the Government of Turkmenistan
wants to know what USAID wants in Turkmenistan. The two
sides have achieved, over time, a common language of mutual
understanding of each other's positions through the current
process of consultations and comments. When it became
obvious at a certain stage that the two sides needed to find
new ways of working the projects, the MoU proposal came up.
The ministry supports the practice of concluding MoU's
because it increases both the scope and pace of cooperation,
and plans to continue this practice. At Hajiyev's request,
the head of the Americas desk, Serdar Bashimov, pointed out
that the ministry has already sent a diplomatic note
approving "direct contacts" which would allow embassy
personnel to request meetings with counterpart ministries
without diplomatic notes and with just a phone call to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hajiyev suggested this new
procedure had improved cooperation significantly. (COMMENT:
By contrast, however, at a meeting later the same day,
Ministry of Economy and Finance officials told the delegation
that the United States needed to submit proposals through the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. END COMMENT.)

ASHGABAT 00000754 003 OF 003



COMMENT


11. (SBU) The need for direct contacts has grown as
bilateral interaction has increased. Quite simply, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is becoming overwhelmed by its
schedule of visitors from various countries and
organizations, including the United States, who are seeking
to reverse years of no contact under Niyazov. Programs that
used to be delayed for policy reasons increasingly are being
delayed because nobody is around to work our requests, and
the new system of phone calls has not yet proven to be any
less clunky than the old notification system. END COMMENT.


12. (U) DAA Luten has cleared this cable.
HOAGLAND