(SBU) DENMARK: NO COMMITMENT ON G8 L'AQUILA SUMMIT

UNCLAS COPENHAGEN 000540 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EEB/TPP/ABT/ATP, IO/HS, EUR/NB, EUR/ERA, AF/C E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAID EAGR PREL DA RW SUBJECT: (SBU) DENMARK: NO COMMITMENT ON G8 L'AQUILA SUMMIT FOOD SECURITY INITIATIVE REF: SECSTATE 120804 (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) EconOff met with Niels Richter, Director of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Macroeconomic Policies Division (which is responsible for development assistance and G-8 cooperation) on November 27, to discuss the points in reftel. Richter will be the primary Danish point of contact on all food security queries. According to Richter, Denmark does not consider itself as a core member of the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative as its participation in the L'Aquila G8 Summit was due only to Danish PM Rasmussen's seeking support for climate negotiations leading up to the Denmark-hosted UNFCCC COP15 summit in December 2009. Denmark, therefore, has not made and does not plan to make a specific commitment under the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative. The Danes are following the Initiative's development with interest and welcome U.S. leadership on food security. The Danes plan for their resident representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome to attend the December 3-4 Rome meeting, but do not anticipate making any participation pledges. ¶2. (SBU) To focus its limited development assistance resources, Denmark has designated 15 priority countries. It engages in food security assistance in those countries, but always in coordination with other donor agencies active there and with a growing focus on private sector development to ease food delivery bottlenecks. Denmark may consider close coordination with the Initiative in the future in countries where it has on-going assistance missions. Because Rwanda is not one of Denmark's priority countries, Richter said there will be no Danish representatives at the December 7-8 meetings in Kigali. He said there is no possibility of new Danish pledges for investment in Rwanda at present. FULTON