URGING SUPPORT FOR LEBANON -- DUTCH RESPONSE

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000071 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/UBI (REITER),EB/IFD/ODF (WAECHTER) STATE ALSO FOR NEA/ELA (ALLEN) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN EAID PREL LE NL SUBJECT: URGING SUPPORT FOR LEBANON -- DUTCH RESPONSE REF: A. STATE 2781 ¶B. THE HAGUE 1913 THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (U) Emboffs delivered January 15 reftel A points urging ministerial level representation and donor support for Lebanon at the Paris Donor's Conference on January 25 to Peter van der Bloemen, Desk Officer, Syria and Lebanon, Middle East and North Africa Division, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Econoff delivered reftel A points separately to Joost Andriessen, Head, Humanitarian Aid Division, MFA. ¶2. (SBU) Van der Bloemen confirmed that Dutch Foreign Minister Bot will head the Dutch delegation to Paris III. Other members of the delegation include Director General for Political Affairs Peter de Gooijer, Director for North Africa and Middle East Henrietta van Lynden-Leijten, and the PolCouns from the Dutch Embassy in Paris. Van der Bloemen said the Dutch may seek a bilateral between Secretary Rice and Bot, adding that a discussion between de Gooijer and his counterpart in the U.S. delegation would suffice if a bilateral was not possible. To that end, van der Bloemen requested a list of the U.S. delegation. ¶3. (SBU) Van der Bloemen said the Dutch plan a reconstruction program that includes a series of small, 300,000-400,000 euro projects including: capacity-building measures for local government in southern Lebanon, training forensics experts in Lebanese police forces, dialogues between different parts of Lebanese society organized by the Dutch embassy in Beirut, and -- in coordination with the US and UK -- a possible Dutch contribution to security sector reform efforts. The Dutch plan to budget 1.5 million euros for these projects in 2007, van der Bloemen added. ¶4. (U) ACTION REQUEST: The Dutch also requested a list of USG delegates to Paris III. If available, please forward to Jay Heung at heungj2@state.gov for forwarding to Dutch MFA officials. END ACTION REQUEST. ARNALL