Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BERLIN1007
2007-05-18 09:17:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Berlin
Cable title:  

SCENESETTER FOR G-8 AFRICA PARTNERSHIP

Tags:  EAID ECON ECIN EMIN ETRD PREL GM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9301
OO RUEHAG RUEHBZ RUEHDF RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHIK RUEHJO RUEHLZ RUEHMA
RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHRL #1007/01 1380917
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 180917Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8308
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0872
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0269
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 0298
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 1802
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0494
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1039
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1466
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BERLIN 001007 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

NSC FOR BOBBY PITTMAN
STATE FOR AF/CAMILLE JACKSON
USEU FOR PATRICIA LERNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON ECIN EMIN ETRD PREL GM
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR G-8 AFRICA PARTNERSHIP
FORUM, BERLIN, MAY 22-23

REF: A. 2006 BERLIN 207


B. 2007 BERLIN 605

C. 2006 BERLIN 693

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BERLIN 001007

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

NSC FOR BOBBY PITTMAN
STATE FOR AF/CAMILLE JACKSON
USEU FOR PATRICIA LERNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON ECIN EMIN ETRD PREL GM
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR G-8 AFRICA PARTNERSHIP
FORUM, BERLIN, MAY 22-23

REF: A. 2006 BERLIN 207


B. 2007 BERLIN 605

C. 2006 BERLIN 693


1. (SBU) Summary. Chancellor Merkel will open
the Eighth Africa Partnership Forum (APF) in
Berlin immediately following the G-8 Finance
MinistersQ Meeting in Potsdam May 19-20 and the
German-World Bank Forum on May 21. Hosted by the
German Development Minister, the APF will set out
the key components of GermanyQs G-8 development
agenda with Africa for the Heiligendamm Summit,
including financing mechanisms, donor
harmonization, and trade agreements. Many of the
initiatives Germany envisions show an adoption of
U.S. approaches to development, including
increased engagement of the private sector and
market-oriented trade policies. End Summary.


G-8 and EU Presidencies Precipitate New Thinking
-------------- ---

2. (SBU) GermanyQs concurrent G-8 and EU
presidencies have offered its development experts
opportunities to revisit attitudes towards the
U.S. and move to policies more in line with USG
approaches. Since 2006, the German Development
Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and her team
have consistently demonstrated an increased
interest in working more closely with the USG,
particularly in the G-8 process and on our own
development priorities. They seek our support as
a key partner in engaging the emerging market
countries, particularly China, in what the
Germans hope will be their signature G-8
initiative: a High Level Dialogue between the G-8
and Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South
Africa known as the "Heiligendamm Process."
While the Process will cut across a spectrum of
issues -- including energy, trade, intellectual
property, and investment -- the development
component will aim to implement new development
strategies reflecting the growing importance of
these five states. Those around her say the
Minister, who has long been a fixture on the left
of the German political spectrum and is the

longest-serving member of the current German
government, sees the program as an important
piece of her legacy. With much of the MinisterQs
domestic and international reputation riding on
her producing deliverables for the German
presidencies, the sixty-four year-old Wieczorek-
Zeul has kept an eye towards her legacy as
retirement looms.


Financing Mechanisms and Donor Harmonization
--------------

3. (SBU) Wieczorek-Zeul wants the G-8 to pay
particular attention to good governance --
Germany chose the theme QGrowth and
ResponsibilityQ for their G-8 presidency --
while calling for the creation of innovative
financing methods which would enable large
segments of African society to contribute to
economic growth. The U.K. and World Bank have in
some cases joined the U.S. in disagreeing with
the German proposals on these initiatives due to
technical and policy grounds. However, it would
be worth highlighting the positive change in
German attitudes towards development policy that
these efforts represent. Wieczorek-Zeul is
moving German development priorities toward a
more market-oriented approach while drawing more
closely from other U.S. development principles.
Notably, Wieczorek-Zeul, who once clung closely

BERLIN 00001007 002 OF 004


to the 0.7% of GDP target for development aid as
a matter of course for all developed countries,
is now on record as naming the 0.7% figure as an
imperative for Germany, rather than for the G-8
overall.


4. (SBU) GermanyQs specific finance proposals
- the creation of a regional microfinance fund
(REGIMFA) and the local currency fund Q- also
reflect new efforts towards deeper collaboration
between the German Development and Finance
Ministries. At the same time, the MinisterQs
efforts towards donor harmonization under the
Making Finance Work for Africa (MFWFA) agenda
would replicate in the G-8 context the key
development-related achievement of GermanyQs EU
Presidency. On good governance, she also wants
to leverage GermanyQs role in the establishment
of the Extractive Industries Transparency
initiative (EITI) to seek greater commitments
from the G-8 on transparency in the raw materials
sector. (Note: German G-8 Sherpa Bernd
Pfaffenbach served as the keynote speaker at the
April EITI board meeting in Berlin. End note.)
On this theme, the Development Ministry has
hosted a series of events during their
Presidencies on access to raw materials in
Africa, particularly emphasizing the activities
of China.


Health, Gender Priorities
--------------

5. (SBU) Wieczorek-Zeul frequently cites her
decades as a self-described feminist leader as
the guiding principle toward her heightened
sensitivity to gender issues and bases her
enthusiasm for microfinance initiatives. She
sees these programs as primarily providing
positive benefits to women. The growing impact
of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria on women
remains one of the essential elements of the
calls from Chancellor Merkel and Wieczorek-Zeul
for additional support for the Global Fund.
Chancellery officials indicated repeatedly that
Merkel plans to renew calls for Global Fund
support at Heiligendamm. We therefore expect the
Germans will watch closely any statements from
the U.S. on the Global Fund specifically, or on
HIV/AIDS, T.B., or Malaria generally. (Note:
They initially misinterpreted the President's
Malaria Initiative as an effort to single out one
disease for preferential attention at the expense
of Fund commitments. End note.)


Merkel to Engage German Business
--------------

6. (SBU) Chancellor Merkel, who will open the
Africa Partnership Forum by adding her support to
increased development assistance for Africa,
plans to hold a business conference May 21 to
promote investment in Africa. Chancellery
sources told the Embassy Merkel planned to invite
CEOs of German companies and the leadership of
German business associations in order to develop
strategies for an increased private sector role
in development assistance.


Trade Elements Emerge at APF
--------------

7. (SBU) Trade remains another key element of
GermanyQs development agenda, particularly in its
EU presidency. On May 14, Wieczorek-Zeul led the
European Council to adopt conclusions on the

BERLIN 00001007 003 OF 004


Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between
the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific
(ACP) countries. Wieczorek-Zeul told the press
Qthe member states confirmed the goal of creating
tariff- and quota-free access to the European
market for all products, with a few transitional
arrangements for particularly sensitive
products,Q and added all the ACP countries
promised to conclude the EPA negotiations before
the end of 2007. The EPAs will enable the EU
Commission and the member states to provide 2
billion euros a year in Qaid for tradeQ for
developing countries, starting in 2010.


8. (SBU) German trade and development experts
largely view the African Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA) as a model for trade and development
relations with Africa. Nevertheless, German
officials sometimes question U.S. Rules of Origin
policies under AGOA with figures across the
German government believing China, India, and
Pakistan benefit disproportionately from AGOA's
more liberal rules on textiles. German
officials, believing the U.S. has greater
influence on China, India, and Pakistan than the
other G-8 states, see the U.S. as the primary
interlocutor with these countries. The German
Ministry for Economics and Technology (BMWi) and
the Association of German Industry (BDI) believe
that AGOA should be expanded to include more
industrialized countries through similar
agreements that merge of the best practices of
AGOA and the EUQs Everything but Arms (EBA)
initiative.


9. (SBU) GermanyQs AGOA critics in the
Bundestag and BMWi say a large portion (80%) of
AGOA trade is derived from oil and luxury
products, like the U.S.-bound Mercedes and BMW
vehicles produced in South Africa. The
Development Ministry also sees the AGOA
limitations both in regional capacity and product
eligibility as more restrictive than
advantageous. The Development Ministry wants to
see steps in AGOA and similar trade regimes to
focus on least developed countries to prevent
China and India from profiting.


View from the Bundestag
--------------

10. (SBU) The Bundestag convened special
debates May 10 focusing on GermanyQs development
policy towards Africa. Wieczorek-Zeul, an SPD
Bundestag member, renewed GermanyQs pledge to
increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) by
2010 and to implement debt relief under the
Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative
-- the obligations of which Germany had largely
met. Although she lauded the current debt relief
effort, Wieczorek-Zeul spoke out against a
renewed push, except in the case of Liberia.
Christian Ruck, the CDU/CSUQs development
spokesman, endorsed for the MinisterQs agenda and
pointed to a promising generation of new African
leaders, including GhanaQs President Kufuor and
LiberiaQs Johnson-Sirleaf, as role models for
modern, cooperative, and accountable
statesmanship.


11. (SBU) The opposition Free Democratic Party,
led by development spokesman Karl Addicks,
criticized the direct support for African
government budgets provided by western countries,
claiming it had led to increased corruption in
Africa.

BERLIN 00001007 004 OF 004



TIMKEN JR.