DONOR COORDINATION CONFERENCE: WHERE IS THE USG?

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000111 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR DAS GRAY, EB FOR PDAS DIBBLE; STATE PASS USAID FOR KUNDER FROM AMBASSADOR LEBARON E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2012 TAGS: ECON EFIN EAID KU XF SUBJECT: DONOR COORDINATION CONFERENCE: WHERE IS THE USG? REF: A. 06 KUWAIT 4489 ¶B. EMBASSY KUWAIT-NEA/ARP/USAID EMAILS Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for Reasons 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C/NF) I am extremely disappointed by the lack of high-level Washington-based USG representation at the donor coordination conference the Arab Fund is hosting in Kuwait on February 4. It is difficult for me to accept that we cannot offer at least one senior representative from Washington, from either State or USAID, to attend this meeting, which Washington has been aware of for several months (reftels). In the last six months, we have asked Kuwait (in addition to requests to other Arab donors who will be represented) for financial support for Lebanon (beyond the USD 500 million deposited in the Lebanese Central Bank last August) and for Yemen; to host a meeting of the Iraq Compact, which Kuwait did; and most recently to support World Bank and IMF proposals to eliminate Liberian arrears. A request for Kuwaiti support for our efforts in Somalia is also under consideration. A number of senior-level State and Treasury officials have in fact met with the Arab Fund host in the past and encouraged the very able DG of the Arab Fund to host just such a meeting as they are now doing. ¶2. (C/NF) All of this points to the fact that a donor coordination event, which brings together all of the major donors in this region for a day of program review, priority setting, and networking, ought to be something that the USG feels obliged to attend, and committed to doing so. Given our collective interest in increased Arab aid to Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and the Palestinians, not to mention our foreign policy goals in Africa, we ought to be sending a robust delegation, and conveying our interest and commitment. We are delivering exactly the opposite message to Arab and foreign donors, and to Kuwait. I am delighted that Anne Aarnes from USAID Jordan will attend, but I hope State and USAID can muster up a greater show of support and interest. As a government, we spend a lot of capital insisting that Arab donors cooperate with the donor coordination events that we sponsor -- we can't forget that this is a two-way street. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* LEBARON