US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO1850

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001850 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, IO/T, NEA/IAI, INL/C/CJ 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  10-27-13 
TAGS: PREL, EAID, SNAR, CE, CB, MG, VM 
SUBJECT:  Colombo Plan:  Action Request regarding 
upcoming Special Session 
 
Refs:  (A) Colombo 768 
-      (B) Colombo 559 
-      (C) 02 Colombo 1412 (All Notal) 
 
(U) Classified by Charge' d'Affaires James F. Entwistle. 
Reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1.  (U) This is an ACTION REQUEST -- please see Para 
Four. 
 
2.  (SBU) BACKGROUND:  Poloff attended a September 16 
Colombo Plan meeting to discuss the postponed biennial 
Consultative Committee Meeting (CCM) of the Colombo Plan 
(CCM) (the CCM is the highest level meeting of the 
Colombo Plan).  The CCM was originally scheduled to be 
held in Tehran in April 2003, but was put off due to the 
Iraq conflict.  In early September, the Iranian 
government informed the Colombo Plan Secretariat that it 
would be unable to host the CCM until sometime after 
April 2004.  In order to deal with several pressing 
matters, the Secretariat decided that the organization 
would hold a Special (ambassadorial-level) Session of 
the Council on November 18, 2003, in Colombo. 
 
3.  (C) The Special Session on November 18 is slated to 
review several agenda items, including: 
 
-- CCM Scheduling:  When and where to hold the postponed 
April 2003 CCM will be the major agenda topic.  Kittipan 
Kanjanapipatkul, Colombo Plan Secretary General, is 
visiting Tehran from October 24-29 to discuss the matter 
with the Iranian government.  Tay Bian How, Drug 
Advisory Program Director, told us on October 24 that 
Kanjanapipatkul intends to present two options to Iran: 
(1) Either defer its hosting of a CCM until some time in 
the future and allow Bhutan -- which offered to host the 
next CCM in 2005 -- to host the next CCM; or (2) set a 
date for Tehran to host the next CCM in the coming 
months.  It is not clear what decision Iran will make 
regarding these two options, nor whether it will have 
its response ready by the time of the November 18 
Special Session. 
 
-- New Members?:  The question of whether Mongolia and 
Vietnam should be given full membership in the Colombo 
Plan Council will be another key agenda item. 
Currently, both states are associate members, but have 
recently expressed interest in becoming full members. 
 
-- Cambodia's Dues:  Whether Cambodia, at its request, 
should be forgiven its unpaid dues (roughly USD 
260,000), dating from 1978 to the present.  (Note:  In 
1979, the council wrote off Cambodia's unpaid dues from 
1973-1977.)  Currently, Cambodia continues to 
participate and receive the full benefits of Colombo 
Plan membership, although it is not paying its dues. 
END BACKGROUND. 
 
4.  (C) ACTION REQUEST:  For the Special Session, 
Mission would like to know how to respond to the 
rescheduling of the 2003 CCM, including which venue 
(Tehran or Bhutan) we would support, and whether or not 
we would participate.  (Note:  Based on past guidance 
regarding the April 2003 CCM, we assume that the U.S. 
would not participate in any meeting held in Iran, but 
that we would not try to block Iran as a venue.) 
Mission also requests guidance on whether we should 
support full membership for Mongolia and Vietnam, as 
well as the request by Cambodia for forgiveness of its 
membership arrears.  As members will almost certainly be 
asked to vote on these issues via a show of hands, 
Mission requests Department's guidance before the 
Special Session meets on November 18.  END ACTION 
REQUEST. 
 
5.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
ENTWISTLE