SAUDI FUND ON RECENT $380 MILLION FOR PAKISTAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 001535 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AND S/SRAP E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2019 TAGS: EAID PREL PK SA SUBJECT: SAUDI FUND ON RECENT $380 MILLION FOR PAKISTAN REF: RIYADH 1365 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) The Pakistan official news agency reported November 10 that Yousef Al-Bassam, managing director of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD),signed three agreements earlier that day to disperse $380 million in aid to Pakistan (reftel). These were an agreement to provide a $200 million time deposit to the Pakistan central bank, an agreement to provide a $100 million export credit for the importation of fertilizer from Saudi Arabia, and an agreement to provide an $80 million soft loan to partially finance the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project. The article described the first two agreements as part of the $700 million that Saudi Arabia pledged in assistance for Pakistan at the Tokyo donors' conference in April, and the third as part of "regular ongoing assistance." ¶2. (C) In contrast to the media report, Mohammed Al-Arifi, the director for Asia projects at the SFD, told Econoff November 17 that all three projects were part of Saudi Arabia's $700 million pledge (this matches what we were told in October in advance of the signing). He said SFD officials had held "very productive" meetings with Pakistani officials during their trip and that the Pakistanis had presented additional hydropower projects for consideration (for the dispersement of the remaining $220 million in infrastructure loans promised in Tokyo). Al-Arifi indicated the SFD is likely to send a team in early 2010 to evaluate these projects. SMITH