GERMANY ALSO DEMARCHING ON KOSOVO'S WORLD BANK

UNCLAS BERLIN 000564 SENSITIVE STATE FOR EEB/IFD/ODF (LAITINEN),EEB/IFD/OMA (FREUDENWALD),EUR/CE (SCHROEDER),EUR/SCE (SHIRATORI),AND DRL/ILCSR LABOR FOR ILAB TREASURY FOR SCHMERIN, ICN (KOHLER),IMB AND OASIA SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN ECON ELAB PREL KV GM SUBJECT: GERMANY ALSO DEMARCHING ON KOSOVO'S WORLD BANK MEMBERSHIP REF: STATE 47360 ¶1. (SBU) On May 11-14, 2009, post delivered talking points contained in reftel to officials at the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ),Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),and Ministry of Finance. Friedrika Kaercher, Desk Officer for Serbia and Kosovo, BMZ, confirmed strong German support for Kosovo's membership in the World Bank, explaining that Germany is conducting a similar worldwide demarche to build support for a positive outcome. Having recently returned from Pristina, Kaercher reported that Kosovo's Finance Minister Ahmet Shala had been elated by Kosovo's recent success in joining the International Monetary Fund; Shala hoped Kosovo would have the same result at the World Bank. (NOTE: Germany's Governor for the World Bank is the Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul; the alternate is Finance Ministry State Secretary Joerg Asmussen.) ¶2. (SBU) Marc Bogdahn, Deputy Head of Division, Western Balkans, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),likewise confirmed German support for Kosovo's membership in the World Bank. He noted that Germany was already conducting demarches to that effect worldwide, but did not commit to a joint demarche with the United States. (COMMENT: The MFA as a rule prefers to deliver demarches on its own, but often acknowledges joint positions with other countries in so doing. END COMMENT.) ¶3. (SBU) Reftel points were also shared with Ministry of Finance contacts, who acknowledged German support for Kosovo's World Bank membership. Koenig