AHLC: GERMANY SHARES U.S. OBJECTIVES, CITES NEED

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000671 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2019 TAGS: EAID KPAL PGOV PREL WBG EU IS GM SUBJECT: AHLC: GERMANY SHARES U.S. OBJECTIVES, CITES NEED TO IMPROVE ACCESS AND MOVEMENT REF: STATE 55527 Classified By: Deputy Political Section Chief Stan Otto for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (SBU) MFA Near East Division Chief Boris Ruge informed Poloff June 5 that the MFA "fully agrees" with the U.S. policy objectives noted in reftel. Ruge will lead the German delegation to the AHLC's June 8 Oslo meeting. Ruge said that keeping the Palestinian Authority (PA) financially solvent is "crucial." He added that Germany and the EU have fulfilled or even exceeded their financial commitments towards the PA. Germany's support for the PA is mainly in the form of project support but Germany also continues to provide funds to the EU's Pegase mechanism which finances PA fuel purchases. In 2009, Germany provided 25 million euro to this mechanism. ¶2. (SBU) Ruge noted that improving movement in and access to the Palestinian territories will be important in terms of promoting economic development there. He said that Germany will continue to address this issue on a national level and through the EU. Ruge made the point that the lack of access has prevented delivery of the substantial support committed by Germany at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference (150 million euro). ¶3. (C) While Ruge agreed that the AHLC is not the proper forum within which to discuss political issues, he made the point that "credible efforts to move towards the two-state solution are critical in order to motivate donors to continue supporting the PA." He added that, "In the medium term, donor support would likely dry up if there were no perspective beyond the status quo. Therefore, there may be a case for the U.S. delegation to reference at least in general terms the current initiatives (including yesterday's very impressive speech)." ¶4. (U) U.S. objectives were also shared with contacts at the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ),who expressed concerns similar to those outlined in reftel. Koenig