US embassy cable - 04ANKARA3079

UNCLAS ANKARA 003079 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AF, EAID, ECON, EFIN, IZ, PREL, TU 
SUBJECT: IRAQ ASSISTANCE:  TURKEY WAITS FOR BETTER 
COORDINATION BEFORE SPENDING ITS USD 50 MILLION PLEDGE 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified -- not for internet distribution. 
 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  Ambassador Rifat Okcun, the GOT's 
coordinator for assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan, told 
Econoff that he was disappointed with the Iraqi Government 
presentation to the May 25-26 Doha meeting and the apparent 
lack of donor coordination.  He added that Turkey will wait 
until security and coordination improves before starting 
reconstruction projects under its USD 50 million pledge.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
 
 
Iraq Assistance 
 
 
2. (SBU) Doha Meeting:  Turkey's coordinator for Iraq and 
Afghan assistance, Ambassador Rifat Okcun, who recently 
returned from the Doha Iraq Trust Fund meeting, said he was 
disappointed at the quality of the presentation made by Iraqi 
officials, but added that a number of the donor delegations 
also appeared poorly prepared to discuss the priority needs 
for Iraq.  As a result, he did not expect much progress from 
international donors to begin implementing projects in Iraq. 
He added that it was "appropriate and important" that Iraqi 
government officials took the lead to make the presentations 
to the donors, and he was upbeat about Iraq's future.  He 
expressed his hope that we may soon reach the crest of the 
difficult portion of the process and "the ball will start 
rolling downhill."  Okcun explained that he has a number of 
good project proposals that Turkey would like to initiate. 
However, Turkey will continue to wait for security to improve 
and for better donor coordination before it begins disbursing 
its USD 50 million pledge.  He acknowledged the U.S. USD 10 
million pledge to the IRFFI as an expression of good will, 
but agreed that U.S. assistance money for Iraq is better 
spent when it is managed directly by the U.S.  Turkey will 
follow that same approach, preferring to manage directly the 
bulk of its assistance. 
 
 
3.  (U) IRFFI Pledge:  Okcun reported that Turkey became the 
twentieth member of the IRFFI at Doha by pledging the minimum 
USD 1.2 million.  The pledge will come from the USD 50 pledge 
Turkey made at the Madrid Donors' Conference.  He added that 
Turkey will seek one of the two at-large seats on the Donor 
Committee and is preparing a meeting in New York of the 
representatives from the small donors to discuss Turkey's 
candidacy. 
 
 
4.  (SBU) Okcun raised his concern that contracting rules 
that require a certain percentage of Iraqi labor will lead to 
inefficiency and corruption.  Under the Hussein regime, 
contractors frequently hired and paid local workers but did 
not use them to perform the work.  He said there was 
insufficient qualified labor locally, which could compel some 
reconstruction contractors to follow the old pattern of 
paying but not using Iraqi labor. 
 
 
Afghan Assistance 
 
 
5.  (U) Okcun was upbeat about progress of international 
assistance for Afghanistan.  He said the Afghan government 
officials, on the whole, were very professional, and he 
expected reconstruction and the security situation to improve 
significantly in the coming year.  He reported that Turkey 
had already disbursed USD 6 million of its total pledge of 
USD 10 million and that he had USD 2.9 million yet to spend 
this year.  Turkey will almost certainly exceed its USD 10 
million pledge in coming years, he added, and pointed out 
that these figures do not include a number of humanitarian 
assistance projects conducted by the Turkish military in 
Afghanistan. 
 
 
CPA Baghdad Minimize Considered. 
EDELMAN