Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BAGHDAD2769
2008-08-28 13:32:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

IRAQ MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SEEKING

Tags:  TPHY SENV TRGY TSPL PARM ENRG KGIT KNNP KSCA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0681
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #2769/01 2411332
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 281332Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9100
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0252
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002769 

SIPDIS

FOR ISN/NESS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2028
TAGS: TPHY SENV TRGY TSPL PARM ENRG KGIT KNNP KSCA
OSCI
SUBJECT: IRAQ MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SEEKING
IMPROVED INTER-MINISTRY COOPERATION

Classified By: Classified By: Economic Counselor Todd P. Schwartz
for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002769

SIPDIS

FOR ISN/NESS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2028
TAGS: TPHY SENV TRGY TSPL PARM ENRG KGIT KNNP KSCA
OSCI
SUBJECT: IRAQ MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SEEKING
IMPROVED INTER-MINISTRY COOPERATION

Classified By: Classified By: Economic Counselor Todd P. Schwartz
for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) Minister of Science and Technology (MOST) Ra'id Fahmi
Jahid told EMBOFFs on 25 August that one of the Government of
Iraq's biggest problems is that the Ministries have no
effective mechanism to coordinate their strategies. Fahmi
said he thus requested the UNCTAD science, technology, and
innovation policies (STIP) review in order to inform other
Ministries of the importance of science and technology to
Iraq's economic development. "The process is more important
to me than the result," Fahmi said. He will use his trip to
Geneva for the September 1 signing of the MOU to press UNCTAD
to begin the review process as soon as possible, hopefully to
be completed "in about a year." Fahmi said he is planning to
restructure the Ministry in order to focus on several "big
issues," such as pollution, renewable energy, advanced
materials, and natural disaster mitigation and response.
Physically rebuilding Iraq's research laboratories is his
"number one priority," while also noting that the Ministry's
two biggest problems are its lack of cooperation with
provincial governments and the need for "capacity building"
of its researchers, suggesting Iraqi scientist visitor
programs to advanced labs as a partial cure for the latter.
Dr. Adnan Jaries, Manager of MOST's Iraq Decommissioning
Program (IDP),said phase one, periphery clean up, of the
four-phase plan to clean up the LAMA facility at the Tuwaitha
nuclear complex is ongoing and should be complete by the end
of 2008.


2. (U) Participant list:

Iraq:
- Ra'id Fahmi Jahid -- Minister of Science and Technology
- Dr. Faoud Shati -- Deputy Minister

- Dr. Samir Raouf -- Deputy Minister
- Dr. Kudair Abass Dawood, Director General, Water Treatment
Technology
- Adnan Jarjies -- Program Manager, Iraq Decommissioning
Program
- Dr. Thamer Hadi - Acting Director General, Directorate of
Hazardous Materials & Environmental Research
- Mohammed Jawad Al Shara - Director General, Iraqi National
Monitoring Directorate

United States Embassy:
- Dr. Paul Savello -- ITAO Senior Advisor
- Roy Therrien -- ESTH
- Daniel Markley -- DOE

--------------
No More "Island Ministries"
--------------


3. (U) Minister of Science and Technology (MOST) Ra'id Fahmi
Jahid told EmbOffs on 25 August that one of the Government of
Iraq's (GoI) biggest problems is that the Ministries have no
effective mechanism to coordinate their strategies. Fahmi
said he thus requested the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) science, technology, and innovation
policies (STIP) review in order to inform other Ministries of
the importance of science and technology to Iraq's economic
development. "The process is more important to me than the
result," Fahmi said. He hopes that the UNCTAD STIP advisors,
through their discussions with various Iraq Ministries and
agencies, will help convince the GoI of the importance of a
"common vision," with enhanced focus on the potential role of
MOST. Fahmi said that during his trip to Geneva for the
September 1 signing of the MOU, he will press UNCTAD to begin
the review process as soon as possible, hopefully to be
completed "in about a year." (Note: Article III of the draft
STIP MOU says that MOST and UNCTAD must then conclude a
follow-on agreement which outlines their respective specific
activities and responsibilities for the review, including
costs and expenses. UNCTAD funding for the STIP review will
come from the Iraq Trust Fund. End note.)


4. (U) MOST Deputy Minister Samir Raouf hopes the STIP MOU
will help rid the GoI of its present "island Ministries"
mentality as well as send a clear message to the world that
Iraq is on the right path to integrate its science and
technology strategy with national economic growth. The GoI
needs to incorporate not only its Ministries, but also
private enterprise in a holistic system for economic growth,

BAGHDAD 00002769 002 OF 002


he said. "This will take time, but it is a very important to
show the international community that Iraq is headed in the
right direction."

--------------
MOST Restructuring to Tackle "Big Issues"
--------------


5. (C) Fahmi called MOST's present structure of ten
functionally-oriented Directorates "not sufficiently focused"
for the issues facing Iraq. "Our present system is full of
dispersion, waste, and redundancy," he said, and is thus
undertaking an internal review to restructure the Ministry in
order to focus on several "big issues," such as pollution,
renewable energy, advanced materials, and natural disaster
mitigation and response. Responsibility for these issues
span several Ministries, he noted, further emphasizing the
importance of enhanced inter-Ministry cooperation and
synergy. Fahmi offered hopeful praise of new eGovernment and
"eMinistry" projects as an element of his goal to enhance GoI
coordination. "We have been changed with these new
eGovernment and IT systems," he beamed, citing a newly formed
national level committee to boost GoI eGovernment
coordination.


6. (C) As a specific example of the Ministry's "big issue"
strategy, Deputy Minister Shati described MOST efforts to
support GoI disaster management with remote sensing
applications. "We have had a MOST committee working for
almost a year to determine our potential to contribute," he
said, with emphasis on the importance of going beyond
short-term "fire brigade" tactics. MOST has been trying to
work with the Iraq Imagery Mapping Directorate (IMD) and
Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR),he said, and while IMD
has been "open and helpful," the Directorates within the MoWR
"do not even cooperate with each other, never mind us."


7. (C) In addition to restructuring, Minister Fahmi said
physically rebuilding Iraq's research laboratories is MOST's
"number one priority." Without elaboration, Fahmi then
asserted that the Ministry's two biggest problems are its
lack of cooperation with provincial governments and the need
for "capacity building" of its researchers, suggesting Iraqi
scientist visitor programs to advanced labs as a partial
remedy for the latter. (Comment: Their zeal notwithstanding,
the Minister and Deputy Ministers' have thus far not been
able to convey a practical vision to their Ministry. End
comment.)

-------------- -
Update on the Tuwaitha Decommissioning Project
-------------- -


8. (U) Dr. Adnan Jarjies, Manager of MOST's Iraq
Decommissioning Program (IDP),explained that phase one,
periphery clean up, of the four-phase plan to clean up the
Active Metallurgy Testing Laboratory (LAMA) at the Tuwaitha
nuclear complex is ongoing and should be complete by the end
of 2008. The remaining three phases are dismantlement of the
LAMA building, the radioisotope handling "hot cells," and
finally, the basement. Jarjies said the IDP must
decommission ten destroyed nuclear facilities in Iraq, but
chose to start with Tuwaitha's LAMA facility because it would
involve the least amount of high-level waste, and therefore
the best training opportunity for Iraqi decommissioning
crews. (Note: The LAMA facility is a huge 62,000 square-meter
facility. The hot cells have meter-thick concrete walls which
housed robotic arms to manipulate irradiated material. The
facility is reported to have completed only one experiment
before being destroyed by coalition forces during the Gulf
War in 1991, so the irradiation levels are quite low.
Science magazine, July 11, 2008, p. 188.)
BUTENIS