Argentina: Government Interested in Partnering for

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000182 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/PPC DIRECTOR MCILHENNY DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/EPSC DIRECTOR DOWDY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREL EAGR AR SUBJECT: Argentina: Government Interested in Partnering for Trilateral Assistance ¶1. (U) Action request for Department in para 6. ¶2. (SBU) Summary: The Argentine MFA North American Affairs and International Cooperation Directorates asked DCM on February 11 to explore the possibility of establishing a mechanism for coordination of U.S. and Argentine development assistance projects toward a third country or countries. Argentina supports small scale assistance in agriculture, health and human rights in a number of Latin American countries, and might also be receptive to proposals to build on its nascent work in Africa, particularly Lusophone countries . Embassy views this as a rewarding avenue for enhancing bilateral cooperation on regional issues and requests Department's support and guidance on possible next steps, including countries and areas of work that the Department might wish to promote. End Summary. ¶3. (SBU) DCM visited MFA North American Affairs Director Trombetta and MFA Director General for International Cooperation Julia Levi on Thursday February 11 at their request. The Argentines were interested in following up with us on a proposal they broached with visiting WHA/BSC Officer Director Milt Drucker on February 1 to generate trilateral cooperation projects involving the United States, Argentina and a third country. Trombetta described a recently publicized US-Chile agreement on trilateral development assistance as an inspiration for the Argentine approach. ¶4. (U) Levi described Argentina's development assistance work in Latin America and toward a few other countries in Africa as "two-way," stressing the GOA's belief that donors can also learn much from aid recipient countries. She noted that the GOA has received other donor support to sustain its work in third countries, particularly in Haiti, but neither she nor Trombetta described the GOA initiative as designed to utilize U.S. resources for Argentine projects. Instead they emphasized coordinating ongoing and future efforts by our two governments in a third country. ¶5. (SBU) Argentina does not emphasize the relatively small monetary value of its development assistance work. Among areas of emphasis are: -- Human Rights Assistance - almost all focused on forensic anthropology, including in Paraguay, Bolivia, and Guatemala. -- Agricultural exports/small farming/disease and pest control. Paraguay, Bolivia, and Haiti are the major recipients; the Spanish, Canadians and the National Democratic Institute are all listed as "trilateral" partners supporting Argentina's "Pro-Huerta" garden/truck farming program in Haiti. -- Assistance in measuring and monitoring poverty and the achievement of Millennium Goals in Peru and Bolivia. (Comment: Argentina's own statistical agency has been widely criticized for underrepresenting both inflation and poverty in Argentina. End Comment). -- Africa: small assistance to Angola (ophthalmology) and North Africa (desertification). ¶6. (U) Action Request: Argentine MFA awaits a confirmation of USG interest in doing something jointly and then it will propose (or hear our proposals) for a specific trilateral pilot project. Embassy requests Washington feedback on the idea of trilateral work with Argentina, including whether a formal umbrella agreement is advisable. We would welcome Washington's feedback on locations and types of assistance we would like to encourage in a pilot GOA-USG effort. MARTINEZ