(C) U.S. COMPANY LOOKS TO MARKET VOTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000239 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2019 TAGS: EINV ECON PREL ASEC GV SUBJECT: (C) U.S. COMPANY LOOKS TO MARKET VOTER REGISTRATION PRODUCTS IN GUINEA Classified By: POL/ECON CHIEF SHANNON CAZEAU FOR REASON 1.4 B AND D ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. LaserCard, a company that claims to have significant U.S. content, is requesting commercial advocacy services from the Embassy for issues related to the import of U.S. products. New to Guinea, the company does not yet have any contracts in place, but is hoping to land a contract to provide voter registration cards. However, this contract was already awarded to a French company, SOGAM, and is in the process of being delivered. LaserCard anticipates that the SOGAM contract will fall apart and has already been talking to the Guinean Government about their own product. The company's anticipated contract appears to be at cross-purposes with our current policy towards Guinea, which suggests that commercial advocacy for this particular company may not be in our best interest at this time. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) Pol/Econ Chief met with Claus Hunting, the Director of Sales for LaserCard Corporation, on April 28. Hunting contacted the Embassy in order to request commercial advocacy assistance. LaserCard's local partner, L1 Identity Solutions, has been experiencing difficulties importing goods from the United States. Hunting said that although his office is in Germany, LaserCard has significant U.S. content while its partner, L1 Identity Solutions, is a U.S. company. ¶3. (U) Open source information indicates that LaserCard is a public company with offices both in Germany and the United States. It is listed on the NASDAQ under "LCRD." The U.S. office handles sales in North America while the German office handles sales in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In its filing with the Security and Exchange Commission, the company reports that manufacturing is split between Europe and the United States, but that most of the raw materials and supplies are sourced abroad. The company produces optical memory card technology, which is a secure, credit-card sized card that can hold up to 2.86 megabytes of memory. LaserCard has a wholly owned German subsidiary, Lasercard GMBH. ¶4. (U) L1 Identity Solutions is also a public company with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange under "ID." The company uses biometric technology to secure buildings, and to provide identity documents such as passports or voter registration cards. L1 Identity Solutions has a wholly owned German subsidiary, L1 Identity Solutions AG. ¶5. (C) Hunting explained that LaserCard does not have an office in Guinea, but that its local partner, L1 Identity Solutions, is in the process of establishing business operations here. Although he did not specify, it sounded like L1 has been on the ground for at least a few months. Hunting told Pol/Econ Chief that the company does not yet have any specific contracts, but is talking to the Guinean Government about potential opportunities. One of these opportunities might be contracting to produce a national identification card. However, Hunting indicated that the company's main interest is in handling Guinea's voter registration cards. He claimed that LaserCard's product is of superior quality and has generated proven results in other African countries. ¶6. (C) Pol/Econ Chief pointed out that the EU is financing the voter registration process and has already awarded a contract to the French company SOGAM, which is reportedly nearing completion of the initial registration phase. Hunting acknowledged SOGAM's contract, but said that he expects their services to fall through since there have been a number of problems with the process so far. Incidentally, Hunting said LaserCard is also hoping to pick up a similar contract for voter registration cards in Cote d'Ivoire, which is also currently working with SOGAM. ¶7. (C) In response to the question on the Embassy providing commercial advocacy, Pol/Econ Chief noted that while the USG is pro-American business, this particular situation is unique in that LaserCard's anticipated contract may be at cross purposes with our bilateral policy towards Guinea. Hunting argued that the SOGAM contract is fraught with problems, and that if elections are ultimately going to succeed in Guinea, the voter registration process needs to be done correctly. Pol/Econ Chief promised to discuss LaserCard's advocacy request with relevant offices in Washington, but made no commitment. -------------- COMMENT -------------- CONAKRY 00000239 002 OF 002 ¶8. (C) LaserCard's request presents a prickly question. On the surface, the company looks to have significant U.S. content, which means that we would normally be willing to advocate to advance their interests. However, their business objectives appear to conflict with our current policy position. At the same time, it is accurate to say that the SOGAM registration process has been problematic. These problems may ultimately convince stakeholders, including political parties and voters, to effectively demand a "recount." Elements of the Guinean Government are likely looking to delay the elections and the SOGAM issue provides a ready excuse. The EU, which has invested several million Euros in the process, is likely to be unwilling to consider a "recount." The other question is who would finance a new contract. ¶9. (C) At this time, it seems that the Embassy should refrain from commercial advocacy for this company, in accordance with our policy position. If the GoG ultimately rejects the results of the SOGAM contract and opens the contract for rebidding, it would then make sense to advance the interests of an American company. Embassy welcomes Department guidance as to how to handle this issue. END COMMENT. RASPOLIC