DANES WEIGHING PAKISTAN AID

C O N F I D E N T I A L COPENHAGEN 000136 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2019 TAGS: EAID PREL ECON EFIN PK DA SUBJECT: DANES WEIGHING PAKISTAN AID REF: STATE 24367 Classified By: Bill Mozdzierz, Acting DCM, reasons 1.4b,d ¶1. (C) Acting DCM delivered reftel demarche on the Pakistan donors conference to Danish MFA Head of Department Jesper Thomsen March 17, urging high-level participation and a robust contribution at the April 17 conference. A/DCM noted that the conference had been flagged as a top priority by senior U.S. officials, including Ambassador Holbrooke, during Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller's meetings in Washington the previous week. ¶2. (C) Thomsen explained that the Danish government has not yet made a decision on new aid for Pakistan, nor whether Denmark will become a formal member of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan group. The Danish government recognizes Pakistan as absolutely critical, Thomsen maintained, not least of all because of Afghanistan (where Denmark has some 700 troops deployed with ISAF),but the MFA has met resistance to expanding aid outside the government's targeted "program countries" in Africa. Thomsen reported that FM Moller is deeply engaged in this debate and hopes to prevail, but could offer no further assurances for now. ¶3. (C) Separately, A/DCM reviewed the need for increased aid to Pakistan with Danish parliamentary foreign policy committee chair Gitte Lillelund Bech, who recently visited Islamabad with members of her committee. Bech readily agreed about Pakistan's strategic importance, but provided a similar account of the ongoing debate within her party and the government on international development assistance priorities. MCCULLEY