TURKMENISTAN: NEW UN COORDINATOR FOCUSING ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000173

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2020
TAGS: EAID PGOV PREL SENV UN TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: NEW UN COORDINATOR FOCUSING ON
POLICY DIALOGUE

REF: 09 ASHGABAT 1053

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons 1.4 (B) a
nd (D).


1. (C) UN Resident Coordinator Lenni Montiel arrived in
Turkmenistan in December 2009. Since his arrival, he has
already tried to change elements of how the UN mission
conducts business internally and how it interacts with the
Turkmenistan Government. In a meeting on February 2, Montiel
emphasized that the Turkmenistan Government is very
interested in working with the UN, but that the UN needs to
use that interest to raise the level of interaction.
Currently, according to Montiel, the UN focuses on
implementing projects, and each project is evaluated
separately. Instead, the UN would better accomplish its
overall objectives by discussing policy with the government,
and then focusing on training that would change or improve
government policies. Montiel said he sees the UN as a
"knowledge bank," and hopes that he can get the government to
also see it as such, instead of just a donor. He would like
to build Turkmenistan's confidence in the UN to the point
where they might be willing self-finance some projects.


2. (C) Montiel noted that the UN Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF) that was signed in August 2009, covering
2010-2015. It includes a wide scope of projects, including
some new areas like parliamentary development and local
governance (reftel). He said the framework document should
give the UN latitude to also focus on the Secretary General's
priorities, including governance and climate change. The
Secretary General is scheduled to visit all five Central
Asian countries in April, but the exact dates are not set.
During that visit, he would likely focus on the issues of
counterterrorism, Afghanistan, and safe transport of water,
energy, and electricity.


3. (C) The Copenhagen Accord is high on the UN list of
priorities, according to Montiel, and he would like to
increase work on national parks, biodiversity, energy
conservation, and alternative energy sources in Turkmenistan.
Montiel plans to set an example by making the UN House a
green building. He noted that if the UN in Slovakia could
put up enough solar panels to provide electricity for the
whole building, he was sure it could be done in Turkmenistan.


4. (C) Montiel also mentioned that he is examining internal
procedures at the UN mission. To gain the complete
confidence of the local government, the UN must be viewed as
free from corruption. He is thus trying to improve
transparency and correct any procedures that do not coincide
with regulations. This covers issues ranging from clear
payroll procedures to budgeting for projects. He mentioned
that last year, the UN provided Turkmenistan with four
million dollars worth of soft assistance, which he explained
meant training, as opposed to equipment. The average project
cost $200,000. He added that the EU was funding a two
million euro project that would include human rights training
and training for reporting to treaty bodies. He is
struggling to break that project into smaller components that
could reasonably be implemented, because two million euros is
more than any one Turkmen government agency could absorb.


5. (C) COMMENT: It was refreshing to see someone excited to
try new ways of working with the Turkmenistan Government.
Montiel is attempting to get the government to see the UN in
a different light, as a resource instead of a donor agency.
He did not, however, take the government's affinity for the
UN as a sign of complete trust in the UN. He apparently
believes that the UN still has work to do to convince the
Turkmen Government that it is trustworthy enough to be

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allowed to talk to them about overall policy plans, instead
of just individual projects. END COMMENT.
CURRAN