BANGLADESH CHIEF ADVISOR STRESSES CARETAKER

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 001837

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2017
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM PINR BG
SUBJECT: BANGLADESH CHIEF ADVISOR STRESSES CARETAKER
GOVERNMENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS ON EVE OF CYCLONE SIDR'S ARRIVAL

Classified By: CDA a.i. Geeta Pasi, Reason 1.4 (d)


1. (C) Summary: During an hour long one on one meeting, on
the eve of Cyclone Sidr's arrival November 15, Fakhruddin
Ahmed( Bangladesh,s Chief Advisor explained his goals for
the caretaker government and asked for inturoational support
for the massive reforms underway. Frank and open, he came
across as a person committed to a vision, namely reforming
and strengthening the institutions needed for sustainable
democracy. Had the Caretaker Government limited itself
solely to organizing a free, fair and credible election, he
opined their work could have been completed in a few months.
This caretaker government has a much larger agenda - to
ensure free, fair and credible elections now(and in the
future. This requires something other than an early
election, namely time-consuming institutional reforms. End
Summary.


2. (C) Political Developments: The Chief Advisor said the
election roadmap was very much on track, taking some time to
recount the massive effort involved in registering ninety
million people. With regard to the Awami League,s
suggestion that there be a political dialogue between the
parties and the Caretaker Government, he replied such a
dialogue would only be possible after the Election Commission
completed its ongoing discussions with political parties. I
noted the concern voiced by many!that whichever party wins
the elections in late 2008 might simply overturn all the
decisions made by the Caretaker Government. The ChiefM
Advisor acknoghddged this was a risk. While he is willing to
talk to the parties, he felt pressure from the international
community would be critical to keep the parties on track. I
reiterated the offer we had made to the Chief Election
Commissioner, namely tapping NDI and IRI to facilitate inter
as well as intra party discussions. The Chief Advisor
welcomed this although he warned the perception of external
influence might become a political issue.


3. (C) I had learned the day before from Chief of Army Staff
General Moeen that delays in the arrival of the thousands of
computers needed to complete the military-spearheaded voter
registration might jeopardize the early completion of the
voter list and delay the elections. Without revealing the
source of the information, I asked the Chief Advisor about a
possible delay in the completion of the registration and
concomitant delay in the parliamentary elections. He seemed
very surprised and said he would follow up with the Election
Commissioner right away. (Note: We were able to confirm
later with the UN Resident Representative that two thousand
UN procured!computers needed for the registration had been
stuck in Malaysia because of lack of cargo space. The UN had
ordered two thousand additional computers to help the
government make up for lost time. We have since learned that
all four thousand computers have arrived in Dhaka, and will
be ready for use on December 1. It is not clear yet,
according to the UN, what impact the delay of the arrival of
the computers will have on the registration process or the
election roadmap. What is clear, however, is that the Chief
Advisor may not be in the loop on this important issue. End
Note.)


4. (C) Counterterrorism issues: The Chief Advisor said he
was reaching out to Muslim religious leaders to call on them
to assist in denying extremist influence in Bangladesh. We
talked at some length about his recent speech at the imam
academy to enlist their support in fighting terrorism. He
was aware of our efforts to reach out to religious leaders to
prevent trafficking in persons. He seemed intrigued by the
&Leaders of Influence8 program$(popularly known as mullahs
on the bus in Washington) where we show target groups our
assistance programs, etc. ) a sort of in-country visitor
program. We touched on a possible public relations campaign
against extremism along the lines of something we had done to
combat diversity visa fraud.


5. (C) The Chief Advisor confirmed that both the pending
anti-terrorism legislation and the revised anti-money
laundering legislation were on track. I asked him about
media reports in which the Law Advisor had dismisse` the
proposed anti-terrorism legislation and as redundant since
Bangladesh,s existing laws amply addressed the issue. He
seemed unaware of what is widely seen as the Law Advisor,s
opposition to the legislation, but he is keenly aware of the
importance of passage of the dwo pieces of legislation as a
pre-cursor to joining the Egmont Group in 2008. He clearly
said Bangladesh is committed to all three and said he planned
to personally track them and ensure their successful passage.


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6. (C) We also talked about human rights and the Rapid
Action Battalion (RAB). He noted that RAB needs training,
confiding that his directives on the importance of human
rights have limited impact in an organization that has always
done business another way. I explained we were working with
the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
obtain information on various human rights incidents,
pointing out that moving forward required transparent
investigations and full reporting on outcomes.


7. (C) Economic issues: Fakhruddin Ahmed was most at ease
when discussing economic issues, particularly reforms. While
acknowledging challenges, he said the people of Bangladesh
were happy with the Caretaker Government and advised me not
to put too much stock in media reports. He said the
Caretaker Government was committed to reforming key sectors
) telecommunications and banks, in particular. The Chief
Advisor acknowledged that the vulnerability of the
underground fiber optic cable (severed 22 times of which
seven were cases of sabotage) was a serious concern. He was
focused on not only a backup arrangemaot but also an expanded
cable to meet what he expects to be an expanded future
demand. He described the economy as improving, citing an
increase in foreign orders of ready made garments. He said
he shared our desire to resolve the Chevron-Petrobangla
dispute, agreeing the perception that contracts are not being
respected could drive away foreign direct investment. He
also acknowledged that much of the bureaucracy needs reform,
including the procurement process (particularly cumbersome to
ensure transparency). We also discussed the challenges of
juggling almost forty ministries for two years by a ten
member caretaker government. He said the much rumored
expansion would take place, but he was struggling with how to
do this given the constitution stipulates there will be only
ten advisors. He said he was exploring other ways to bring
these people into the government, i.e. not as advisors but
with another function title.


8. (C) TIFA: I touched on the stalled Trade and Investment
Framework Agreement (TIFA),the New Partnership for
Development Act (NPDA)( and the Millennium Challenge
Corporation results for Bangladesh. The Chief Advisor said
he planned to explore the history of the TIFA and considerQ
resuscitating it. He also said he had pushed for labor
rights as Chief Advisor and`noted the Government of
Bangladesh response to the GSP petition had reflected the
progress made since January010, 2007. On MCC, he said he was
not surprised by the poor marks this year on Bangladesh,s
scorecard, claiming he had prodded the relevant ministries to
be more proactive, including in reaching out to the World
Bank, Freedom House and other organizations that rate
Bangladesh for the MCC to supply context and updated data for
next year,s evaluation.


9. (C) Cyclone: We spoke at length about the impending
cyclone. Visibly worried, he said he instructed the
government to prepare for a worst case scenario. General
Moeen had briefed him that day about the 1991 cyclone in
which over 100,000 perished. The Chief Advisor told me he
was worried about the disaster response, adding that it would
not be until first light of day that Bangladeshi aircraft
would be available to assess the damage. (NOTE: It turns out
that he was right to be concerned. The storm,s impact
devastated the livelihood options in the affected region and
decimated a critical rice harvest ) posing significant
challenges to the caretaker government. END NOTE.)


10. (S) Comment: Fak(buddin Ahmed is often dismissed by
Dhaka,s chattering classes as a technocrat out of his
element and lacking in political sense. This was my first
extended interaction with him as Chief Advisor. What I found
was a thoughtful but soft-spoken person committed to making
his country a better place. He shared a vision with me that
he said he had shared with Robert Zoellick, President of the
World Bank. He referred to a recent newspaper photograph of
several girls riding to school in a small village on a
bicycle. In this impoverished majority-Muslim nation (where
forty percent of the population exist on less than one USD
per day),he said this image gave him hope for his country.
Educating girls0ogfers its own social rewards, and bicycles
are a symbol of economic profrews. A seemingly simple
vision, it summarizes the theme of the Chief Advisor,s
comments and his stated desire to give everyone in his
country a chance at the bright future the photo conveys.
This underscores the importance of a prompt effective
response to the cyclone so that the attention of the
government and donors can return to longer term development
challenges.

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Pasi