LATVIA WILL NOT ATTEND CD MINISTERIAL IN BAMAKO,

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIGA 000833 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2017 TAGS: KDEM PHUM PREL UNGA LG SUBJECT: LATVIA WILL NOT ATTEND CD MINISTERIAL IN BAMAKO, MALI REF: STATE 151024 Classified By: Charge d'affaires a.i. Stuart M. Seldowitz for reasons 1 .4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Pol-Econ Off delivered reftel demarche on November 7, to Sarmite Danne, First Secretary in the MFA's International Organizations Division. Danne stated that Latvia will not be sending a delegation to the November 14-17 Community of Democracies Ministerial in Bamako, Mali, due to lack of MFA resources. She said that her division supports several our goals for the ministerial, such as a quick conclusion of the declaration text, support of NGOs, and mention of Belarus during the Europe regional roundtable, but that she would need to investigate if there is a way for Latvia to relay its views through other EU participants at the conference. Regarding contributions to the UN Democracy Fund, Danne said that the MFA has the fund on its list of projects it would like to support, but that there are problems in Latvian law regarding voluntary contributions at the UN which must be resolved to allow the funding. SELDOWITZ