VOTING FOR KOSOVO'S WORLD BANK MEMBERSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000325 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2019 TAGS: ECON EFIN PREL KV AM SUBJECT: VOTING FOR KOSOVO'S WORLD BANK MEMBERSHIP REF: A) SECSTATE 47372 B) YEREVAN 270 Classified By: DCM Joseph Pennington. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador spoke on May 11 with Armenia's World Bank Governor, Vahram Nercissiantz, who said that the GOAM will vote "abstain" on Ref A question. ¶2. (C) Ambassador had previously received assurances from Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian that Armenia's IMF Governor, Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian, would vote "abstain" on the question of Kosovo's IMF membership (ref B). Armenia ultimately did not participate in the IMF vote. Ambassador therefore contacted Nercissiantz directly to urge his participation in the World Bank vote. ¶3. (C) Comment: The GOAM is likely under some pressure from Russia not to participate in this vote. Rather than tell us this directly, they likely find it easier to tell us they will honor our request and then simply not participate. Consequently, despite our efforts and Nercissiantz' assurances, there is a decent probability that the GOAM will not participate in the World Bank vote, either. YOVANOVITCH