ASEAN DIALOGUE PARTNERS RAMP UP TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001830 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/RSP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/EP DEPT FOR EB/IFD/OMA DEPT ALSO FOR OES/IET AND OES/ETC/TED USAID FOR LCHILES BANGKOK FOR USAID/PARISH CAMBODIA FOR USAID MANILA FOR USAID HANOI FOR USAID COMMERCE FOR 4430/KELLY SINGAPORE FOR BAKER E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: ECON PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM ID BM SUBJECT: ASEAN DIALOGUE PARTNERS RAMP UP TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The European Commission (EC),Germany and Australia will significantly increase technical assistance to ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat over the next few years. Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) also have large ongoing assistance programs for ASEAN. Participants at an internal EC workshop on trade-related assistance in Jakarta noted that donor assistance to ASEAN is now several times the ASEAN Secretariat's own budget. End Summary. AusAID Scales Up ASEAN Assistance -------------- ¶2. (U) The Australian Government's Overseas Aid Organization (AusAID) has launched the second phase of its ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Programme (AADCP-II),which places a high priority on assisting ASEAN with economic integration challenges. AACDP-II Director Rebecca Lannin, an AusAid employee, will manage the program's activities at the ASEAN Secretariat. The A$57 million ($48 million) project, which will run for five years, will provide research, policy advice and staff to the ASEAN Secretariat. The AADCP-II is also set up to use the ASEAN Secretariat's own staff and systems for project development, rather than creating an independently run project. In addition to AADCP-II, AusAid is preparing to launch a A$25 million ($21 million) Economic Cooperation Work Program (ECWP) to support the implementation of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. The ECWP will run for five years. EC Set to Launch Five New Programs in 2009-10 -------------- ¶3. (U) The European Commission and Germany are also in the process of increasing their support to ASEAN. The second phase of the EC's ASEAN Programme for Regional Integration Support (APRIS II),a three-year, 6.2 million Euro ($9.1 million) project focused on providing assistance on standards, customs, investment and ASEAN capacity building, was launched in 2006. In addition, the EC plans to launch five additional three-year ASEAN programs in 2009 and ¶2010. These programs will focus on statistical capacity building ($8.8 million),intellectual property rights protection ($7.4 million),support for the EC-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement ($3.7 million),civil aviation liberalization (budget not yet determined), and non-traded related sectors development ($5.9 million). The EC is also in the early stage of planning a program to support ASEAN's work on customs, according to the Delegation of the EC in Jakarta. Germany also launched its own ($2.6 million) one-year program to provide technical assistance to the ASEAN Secretariat and member states in 2008. The German government plans to renew the program on an annual basis with a budget of roughly $1.5 million per year. Japan and ADB Maintain Sizeable Programs -------------- ¶4. (U) Japan and the Asian Development Bank also have large technical assistance programs focused on ASEAN. Japan has allocated $70 million to a trust fund for ASEAN development assistance and has a $52 million program to promote the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership. In addition, Japan maintains a stockpile of 500,000 courses of the antibiotic Tamiflu for ASEAN member countries in the event of an outbreak of Avian Influenza. In an effort to support the East Asia Summit (EAS),Japan has also set aside ten billion yen ($94 million) to sponsor a virtual think tank for economic research in East Asia. A Japanese national manages the institute, which consists of a network of think tanks from EAS member countries, from the ASEAN Secretariat. The ADB has also announced plans to increase its focus on the ASEAN region. According to senior officials at the ADB, the bank has a long-term goal of spending 30 percent of its budget on regional or sub-regional activities in Southeast Asia. ASEAN Secretariat Resources Strained -------------- JAKARTA 00001830 002 OF 002 ¶5. (SBU) The ASEAN Secretariat is facing capacity constraints given the increased scope of work associated with creating the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 and the increased size and complexity of ASEAN's projects, according to Lim Chze Cheen of the Bureau for Economic Integration and Finance. The ASEAN Secretariat's annual budget from its own members is $10 million ($1 million from each member state). [Note: ASEAN has repeatedly rejected the idea of increasing the contribution level for more affluent member states. End note.] While the ASEAN Secretariat will get some additional funding from member states following the ratification of the ASEAN Charter, Mr. Lim does not expect the level to increase significantly. Several ASEAN dialogue partners who participated in a European Commission workshop on trade-related assistance in Jakarta noted that donor assistance to ASEAN is now several times the size of ASEAN Secretariat's own budget. Participants at the EU forum also underscored the need for the ASEAN Secretariat to increase its capacity to manage and coordinate donor activities given the growing size and scope of dialogue partner assistance. HUME