CANADIAN SUPPORT FOR FRIENDS OF PAKISTAN MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 001441 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2018 TAGS: PREL PTER ECON EAID PK CA SUBJECT: CANADIAN SUPPORT FOR FRIENDS OF PAKISTAN MEETING REF: A. STATE 119783 ¶B. OTTAWA 808 ¶C. OTTAWA 1263 ¶D. OTTAWA 1122 Classified By: PolMinCouns Scott Bellard, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) In response to November 12 ref a demarche, Deputy Director for South Asia Peter Fawcett at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) voiced Canada's full support, while expressing concern that the meeting now appears to be turning into more of a donors' meeting, despite U.S. efforts to counteract this public perception. Separately, Neil Brennan, DFAIT's Acting Deputy Director for Counter-Terrorism and International Crime indicated that CANADA was still considering whether to provide a speaker on counter-radicalization for the notional experts' meeting on security. Brennan noted some possible concerns within the Canadian inter-agency community on describing in any detail Canada's domestic counter-radicalization strategy (ref b) to an international audience. ¶2. (U) CANADA provides approximately $30 million per year in bilateral development assistance to Pakistan, and plans to increase this amount to $50 million per year by 2010. (Note: Canada's commitment to Afghanistan through 2011 is $1.9 billion, making it Canada's largest foreign aid recipient for Canada. End note) Canada's assistance to Pakistan focuses on education, health, and democratic governance, with an emphasis on Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions. CANADA has contributed funding to the Peace Jirga process and is providing equipment and training to the Pakistani Frontier Corps. CANADA believes that the international community should standardize approaches to customs and border official training for Pakistan, and seeks improved bilateral communication with ICE and CBP. ¶3. (C) Comment: As reported in ref c, CANADA will work cooperatively with international partners to support Pakistan's civilian government and to help strengthen its democratic institutions. However, CANADA views Pakistan primarily through an Afghan prism, given its enormous commitment of resources and personnel to the ISAF RC-South mission in Kandahar It has a particular interest in encouraging Pakistan to build cooperative, constructive political ties with Afghanistan to advance mutual security and economic development, which CANADA views as key to defeating the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan and to promoting long-term stability in the region. The Canadians also put great emphasis on the "Dubai Process," a Canadian-led series of workshops on border issues involving Afghan and Pakistani senior officials, which have fostered cross-border dialogue and cooperation in areas such as customs, migration, law enforcement, counter-narcotics, and socio-economic development in the border regions (ref d). According to DFAIT contacts, this effort has established a mediating role for CANADA that it would gladly use to advance the Friends' efforts. Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at QVisit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada WILKINS