US embassy cable - 05ABUDHABI636

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000636 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
 
DEPT FOR NEA 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMPIO, EFIN 
SUBJECT: US TREASURY ABU DHABI OFFICE 
 
1. This is an action request. Please see paragraph 6 
 
2. The US Treasury Office of Technical Assistance (OTA), has 
opened a regional office in Embassy Abu Dhabi funded by the 
Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) under the 
Partnership for Financial Excellence (PFE).  The office 
serves all countries under NEA, plus West Bank and Gaza, 
with the exception of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya.  Treasury 
representatives George Mullinax, Regional Advisor, Financial 
Institutions Policy and Regulation Program and Michael 
Grifferty, Regional Advisor, Government Debt Issuance and 
Management welcome your inquiries and ideas for assistance 
to local counterparts.  Treasury will forward a more 
detailed description of the project and potential activities 
to Economic officers and MEPI representatives at posts. 
 
3. The United States Treasury Department, through the 
provision of technical advice, endeavors to assist the 
transformation of public and commercial financial systems 
from state directed operations to market based systems. The 
advisory services of Treasury's program emphasize policy 
development leading to structural changes within the 
respective financial systems. 
 
4. Five core areas of financial assistance are provided in 
Treasury's program: budget policy and management, financial 
institutions policy and regulation, government debt issuance 
and management, enforcement policy and administration, and 
tax policy and administration. 
 
5. The mission of the Government Debt Issuance and 
Management Technical Assistance Team is to provide advice to 
national authorities as they develop markets for internal 
and external government securities. An inherent part of this 
mission is development of a coherent management strategy for 
internal and external liabilities.  For internal markets, 
our mission is to develop market-based issuance practices 
and trading mechanisms for domestic government securities 
that support macroeconomic stabilization.  Goals within this 
mission are to provide 1) a non-inflationary means of public 
finance to ministries of finance; 2) instruments and markets 
for monetary policy implementation; and 3) support to 
development of broadly based financial markets. 
 
6. The mission of the Financial Institutions Policy and 
Regulation Program is to assist ministries of finance, 
central banks, banking regulation and supervision agencies, 
insurers of deposits, and other banking sector entities with 
the development of viable, market-oriented banking systems. 
This is accomplished through the use of resident and 
intermittent (short-term) advisors who are experts in 
banking regulation and supervision, risk management, problem 
bank resolution, bank restructuring and privatization, 
deposit insurance, macroeconomic and monetary policy, 
treasury operations and payment (settlement) systems, 
banking legislation, and commercial banking. 
 
7. Action Request: Treasury OTA welcomes your inquiries and 
ideas for assistance to local counterparts.   Please provide 
Economic Section points of contact to Grifferty 
(griffertymp@state.gov, 971.2.414.2537) and/or Mullinax 
(mullinaxgl@state.gov, 971.2.414.2221) 
 
SISON