Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09STATE123722
2009-12-02 21:45:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Secretary of State
Cable title:  

EUROPEAN UNION DISCUSSES FIJI AND DONOR

Tags:  EAID PREL ADB XU XV 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5748
RR RUEHKN RUEHMJ RUEHPB RUEHPT
DE RUEHC #3722/01 3362151
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 022145Z DEC 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 5982
RUEHKN/AMEMBASSY KOLONIA 2217
RUEHMJ/AMEMBASSY MAJURO 6999
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 2063
RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA 8521
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0738
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
INFO RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE 6997
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 0814
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 3884
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 123722 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR (OIA NIK PULA)
WELLINGTON PLEASE PASS TO AUCKLAND

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2019
TAGS: EAID PREL ADB XU XV
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN UNION DISCUSSES FIJI AND DONOR
COORDINATION OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PACIFIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 123722

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR (OIA NIK PULA)
WELLINGTON PLEASE PASS TO AUCKLAND

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2019
TAGS: EAID PREL ADB XU XV
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN UNION DISCUSSES FIJI AND DONOR
COORDINATION OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PACIFIC


1. Classified by EAP/ANP Director Alcy Frelick. Reasons: 1.4
(b and d)


2. (U) November 19, 2009; 8:30am - 3:30pm; Washington, D.C.,
U.S.A.


3. (U) Participants
United States:
Frankie Reed, EAP/ANP Deputy Assistant Secretary
Alcy Frelick, Director EAP/ANP
Stephen Schwartz, Deputy Director EAP/ANP
Doug Carey, Pacific Islands Desk Officer
Paul Neville, Freely Associated States Desk Officer
Andrew Moore, Australia and Pacific Regional Affairs Desk
Officer
Bill Bellis, Pacfic Desk Officer
Dennis Sharma, USAID EAA Deputy Director

EU:
Ranieri Sabatucci, Head of Pacific Unit
Despina Manos, Political and Development Section


4. (SBU) SUMMARY: EAP/ANP Office Director Alcy Frelick
hosted her EU counterpart, Ranieri Sabatucci, for a set of
U.S.-EU Pacific consultations. The informal consultations
served as an opportunity to share perspectives on the Pacific
and identify areas for potential collaboration. Sabatucci
and Frelick agreed to future consultations and to develop
projects and proposals that address shared interests and are
reflective of an enhanced relationship. They also discussed
the current political situation in Fiji and prospects for
productive engagement. END SUMMARY

--------------
EU priorities and U.S. parallels
--------------


5. (SBU) Sabatucci explained that the EU was upgrading its
Pacific engagement as part of a strategy to enhance dialogue
on matters of common interest such as trade, governance, and
aid effectiveness. He also noted that while the EU,s
Pacific strategy is deeply committed to cooperation with
Australia and New Zealand, the EU brings a global perspective
and speaks with one voice for European nations in the Pacific
as there is little bilateral member-state representation.
The EU wants to work with the United States and others to
make aid delivery more efficient, in part by shifting
portions of its aid to direct budgetary support and by
focusing on regional cooperation. Sabatucci outlined EU

interests in renewable energy, climate change, governance,
and capacity building.


6. (U) Frelick provided an overview of U.S. engagement in
the Pacific, discussing our ties with U.S. territories, our
agreements with the Freely Associated States, and our efforts
to increase engagement with Pacific Island countries.
Sabatucci noted that the EU's preferred mechanism for aid
(direct budget support) made the Department of the Interior a
natural partner. Sabatucci expressed interest in
coordinating with the United States to address gaps in
development sectors not addressed by Compact funding.
Frelick highlighted the energy sector as one in which EU
partnership would be especially productive. Frelick also
noted U.S. direct contributions to regional organizations
such as the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the
Forum Fisheries Agency as examples of U.S. regional
engagement.

--------------
Development Coordination
--------------


7. (SBU) Sabatucci explained the EU,s five-year-plan has
budgeted 475 million for the Pacific Island countries
through its European Development Fund (EDF) and noted an EU
goal that 50% of its aid be in the form of direct budget

STATE 00123722 002 OF 003


support by 2013. Sabatucci said coordination and
transparency will be particularly important as a flurry of
money intended to combat climate change, from a variety of
nations, will become available in the coming years.


8. (SBU) USAID Deputy Director for East Asia Dennis Sharma
provided an overview of USAID in the Pacific and its
possibilities as it considers a reentry into the Pacific.
Frelick noted three specific areas for potential cooperation:
climate change adaptation, and energy/renewable energy.
Sabatucci offered possible collaboration on forestry
management and disaster preparedness. He explained the EU
will have 40 million to spend on disaster preparedness in
the Pacific and hopes to work with the United States to fund
effective disaster alert and mitigation mechanisms and may
look to the Pacific Island Forum to develop a regional
disaster strategy. In forestry, Sabatucci noted that
concerns over economic governance might force the EU to
reduce its aid to Papua New Guinea (PNG). But he emphasized
the importance of protecting the forestry sector as a means
of addressing both governance, perhaps via the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative, and environmental
conservation concerns. Frelick also said that partners had
to consider ways to help move PNG away from violence.

--------------
Fiji
--------------


9. (C) The situation in Fiji dominated the discussion of
governance issues in the Pacific. Sabatucci provided a
readout of EU Director General Stefano Manservisi's November
18 meeting in Brussels with de facto Prime Minister Frank
Bainimarama. In response to EU insistence in advance of the
meeting that Bainimarama come to the table with something
new, Bainimarama announced a National Dialogue process
immediately prior to the meetings. Manservisi questioned the
utility of a National Dialogue that excluded political
parties and other interests, held under conditions
restricting free speech. Bainimarama admitted that he needed
money to implement his reform program, but Manservisi
countered that Fiji needed to demonstrate credibility, and
suggested that the regime restore parts of the 1997
constitution. Sabatucci said Bainimarama agreed this would
be possible.


10. (C) Sabatucci explained that Australia and New Zealand
regarded EU engagement with Fiji with "lingering mistrust."
Conversely, Sabatucci described Australia and New Zealand
policy towards Fiji as "clumsy" and "reactive." He thought
the travel bans were counterproductive and excessive Aussie
control of the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) was weakening the
PIF's credibility and generating resistance to democratic
values; playing right into the hands of Bainimarama.
Sabatucci suggested that Bainimarama's plan for an expanded
Melanesian Spearhead Group under Fijian leadership in 2010
may not be a bad idea insofar as it would restore Pacific
Island ownership and self-responsibility. He noted that
Bainimarama's announcement of a new public dialogue coincided
with his meetings with the EU this week as proof that the EU
and United States may be a more effective mediator for the
restoration of rule of law, rights and elections, and
specific carrots that would follow.


11. (C) Frelick suggested that the international community
was making progress with Fiji since the last PIF meeting in
August, but Fiji's recent expulsions of senior diplomats from
Australia and New Zealand had thoroughly undermined progress.
She said that many Pacific Island leaders were starting to
see the problem as rooted not in Australia or New Zealand but
in Frank Bainimarama. Frelick lamented that Bainimarama was
uninterested in the opportunity to engage with Australia and
New Zealand as they lessened their tone over the last few
months. She explained that the United States has worked hard
to maintain dialogue with the de facto government and sought
to demonstrate that engagement with the international
community produces benefits. Without a free press and an
independent judiciary, Frelick said, an inclusive dialogue
with Fiji would be impossible.


12. (C) With little time remaining, Frelick and Sabatucci

STATE 00123722 003 OF 003


concurred that the continual focus on Fiji, particularly
given the lack of results, was a distraction to other
important issues and needs in the Pacific. They noted
positive democratic reforms in Tonga and upcoming elections
in Solomon Islands, and discussed the critical governance
issues that challenge PNG.

--------------
Next Steps
--------------


13. (U) Sabatucci described the event as his &most
important meeting this year.8 Both sides agreed to follow
up with another meeting, perhaps a Digital Video Conference,
within a few months and to start encouraging counterparts at
posts in the Pacific to provide input on specific ideas for
collaboration. While initial suggestions gravitated towards
integrating direct budget support to the Freely Associated
States, energy, and climate change, it was clear that the
scope for a collaborative strategy remains broad.
CLINTON