THANKS FOR THE HARD WORK!

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000335 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR PRM A/S SAUERBREY FROM AMBASSADOR MORIARTY E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2017 TAGS: PREF PREL PGOV BT NP SUBJECT: THANKS FOR THE HARD WORK! REF: KATHMANDU 317 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty for Reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (SBU) I would like to personally thank you and your staff for their hard work and dedication in advancing the U.S. resettlement program for the Bhutanese refugees. PRM's support and forward thinking, particularly the offer to accept 60,000 refugees back in October, re-energized the search for a comprehensive solution in both Geneva and Kathmandu. ¶2. (C) I believe we must seize the window of opportunity provided this week by Prime Minister Koirala's agreement to allow resettlement (reftel). Although Nepal's Maoists have clearly voiced their dislike of a U.S. resettlement program, after entering an interim government, they might find it more difficult to reverse a process that has already begun than to stop a program that has yet to take off. In my meeting today with Core Group Ambassadors (septel),I was encouraged by their interest in pressing the Government of Nepal (GON) to make public its support of a resettlement program and proceed quickly to streamline GON processing of outward-bound refugees. ¶3. (SBU) I wholeheartedly support PRM's timeline for Bhutanese refugees, starting this month with the issuance of a Request for Proposals and release of the U.S. fact sheet on resettlement. Please let me know what my mission can do to assist and advance this agenda even more quickly. I look forward to our further collaboration on this important agenda. Aloha, MORIARTY