CANADA AND PARIS SUPPORT CONFERENCE FOR AGHANISTAN

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000638 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/A (FRESE) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AF CA EAID ECON EFIN KDEM PGOV PREL SUBJECT: CANADA AND PARIS SUPPORT CONFERENCE FOR AGHANISTAN REF: A. STATE 44359 ¶B. OTTAWA 32155 Sensitive but unclassified (sbu) CANADA is still considering the "focus and the scale" of its pledge at the Paris Support Conference for Afghanistan in June, according to Richard Arbeiter, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Acting Director for Policy and Advocacy on the Afghanistan Task Force. In responding to Ref A points on May 7, he also reaffirmed that Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier will likely lead the Canadian delegation in Paris. Arbeiter added that CANADA had been receiving "conflicting messages" from France about whether the June meeting would be a "political" or "pledging" conference. He said the first time that France had asked if Canada would be pledging funds was during a May 7 morning conference call that included Canadian, French, and USG officials. Arbeiter also asked about rumors that President Bush might attend the Paris Conference and inquired into the scale of the expected U.S. pledge. (Comment: Septel reports, inter alia, that Canadian Internaitonal Development Agency (CIDA) Afghanistan Task Force Director Kevin Rex told DAS for Afghanistan Patrick Moon that CANADA would highlight its previous $100 million pledging commitment for 2009 at the Paris Conference. Rex also implied that Canada's actual contribution in 2009 would exceed $100 million, which would track with Canada's previous decisions to "plus up" its $100 million commitments in each of the past two years ($270 million in 2007 and $349 million in 2008. End Comment) Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada RODDY