INDONESIAN-HOSTED PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE WRAPS UP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001348

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SUBJECT: INDONESIAN-HOSTED PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE WRAPS UP

REF: JAKARTA 1238


1. (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please
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2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Indonesia and South Africa co-sponsored a
capacity building conference for the Palestinian Authority on
July 14 in Jakarta. Officials representing over 60 countries
from Asia and Africa met to pledge training and other
capacity-building assistance in key areas such as
agriculture, education, economic growth and health. The
Ambassador and other representatives of the Quartet attended
the opening ceremony. END SUMMARY.

CONFERENCE IN JAKARTA


3. (SBU) Representatives from over 60 countries participated
a conference on Palestinian capacity building held on July 14
in Jakarta. The formal title of the event was the "New
Asian-African Strategic Partnership Ministerial Conference on
Capacity Building for Palestine." It was co-sponsored by
Indonesia and South Africa. Conference participants spent
July 15 in Bandung, where they toured the museum
commemorating the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference--an event of
conspicuous importance in the Indonesian worldview--that
helped spark the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement.


4. (SBU) The conference, organized by Indonesia and South
Africa, aimed to complement the Quartet-led donor group that
met in Paris last December and in Berlin in June of this
year. Organizers stressed that the conference aimed to
generate promises of exchange programs, training and other
forms of capacity building assistance, not donations of
financial support.


5. (SBU) Ambassador Hume and other envoys in Jakarta
attended the opening session at the Presidential Palace
although only countries from the Asia-Africa group
participated in the conference's working sessions. (Note:
Delegates from Brazil, Chile and Venezuela also
participated.) Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister
Salam Fayyad led the Palestinian delegation, which included
four other ministerial-level officials from the PA.

CALL TO BOLSTER CAPABILITIES


6. (SBU) The conference emphasized the themes of
strengthening the Palestinian economy and improving the lives
of the Palestinian people. Speaking at the start of the
conference, President Yudhoyono said the goal of the
conference was to empower the Palestinians to build an
independent state, as called for at the Annapolis Conference.
Yudhoyono also stated: "Our collective conscience called
upon 53 years ago to support the struggle of the Palestinian
people. Today our conscience calls upon us again to broaden
that support and make it more practical, substantial and
durable. We are thus called upon to help the Palestinian
people in a more concrete way." PM Fayyad called on
conference participants to help build a "prosperous Palestine
with an economy open to other markets around the world."

PLEDGES OF SUPPORT


7. (SBU) Conference participants reviewed 90 proposals to
assist the PA in key areas, especially agriculture,
education, economic growth and health. Palestinian leaders
strongly endorsed this approach. While acknowledging the
importance of the Quartet-led donor process, PM Fayyad said
support from Asian and African countries was critical because
the experience of these countries was similar to that of the
Palestinian people.

JAKARTA 00001348 002 OF 002




8. (SBU) Participating countries pledged to support many of
the projects tabled. Indonesia promised to train 1000 PA
civil servants at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU)
training center, beginning with an initial tranche of ten
Palestinian diplomats (Note: As of the close of the
conference, DEPLU had not yet released a finalized list of
the projects the group agreed to support. Mission will
forward a copy of this to EAP/MTS when it becomes available.)

HUME