US embassy cable - 05ROME669

UNCLAS  ROME 000669 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FROM THE U.S. MISSION TO THE UN AGENCIES IN ROME 
 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S JBPENN, MCHAMBLISS, LREICH AND RHUGHES 
USAID FOR A-AA/DCHA WGARVELINK AND DCHA/FFP LAUREN LANDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EAID, EFIN, EAGR, FAO, UN 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FAO DIRECTOR GENERAL DIOUF 
 
REFS (A) STATE 31823 (B) STATE 32130 
 
1.  Summary.  During a call on the FAO Director General 
(DG) the Ambassador raised several issues: 
 
-- The Ambassador outlined the US position on debt relief 
(ref A).  Diouf said he agreed personally with the points 
we outlined, but his organization does not officially have 
a position. 
 
-- The US would like to have the Deputy Director and at 
least one Assistant Director General slot following the DG 
election later this year.  Diouf responded that he was not 
in a position to discuss this now, but noted that in the 
past he had been favorably inclined toward putting 
Americans in top slots. 
 
-- We are not as satisfied as we should be with FAO 
emergency operations.  Diouf said FAO was open to our 
suggestions on how to improve them, and added that his 
staff had already learned much from the problems incurred 
during last year's North Africa locust infestation.  He 
continued to place a good share of the blame on the donors' 
slowness to respond. 
 
-- The Ambassador asked for Diouf's continued cooperation 
in encouraging G77 support for the newly underway 
Independent External Evaluation process.  "We are playing 
ball," Diouf responded. 
 
-- FAO should play a role in at least providing technical 
and informational support to the Doha Round food aid 
discussions.  Diouf said he recognized FAO had a role to 
play. 
 
End Summary. 
 
2.  The Ambassador, accompanied by DCM, called on FAO 
Director General Jacques Diouf on February 25 to discuss a 
range of issues related to current US interests in the 
organization.  The Ambassador left Diouf a copy of ref A 
talking points on debt relief for heavily indebted 
countries.  Diouf said he agreed personally with the 
general thrust of the US position, although these views 
were his own and not those of his organization, which took 
no official position.  The Ambassador raised several other 
issues, as follows. 
 
---------------------- 
Senior Positions 
---------------------- 
 
3.  Drawing on ref B talking points, the Ambassador noted 
that we understand that with the upcoming DG election still 
on the horizon, it may be too early for Diouf to comment on 
how the Deputy (DDG) and Assistant Director General (ADG) 
positions will be filled.  Nevertheless, we wanted to 
express now to him our interest in the DDG position and in 
filling at least one of the ADG positions with qualified 
American candidates.  It would be helpful to have position 
descriptions for these jobs as we identify the best 
possible people.  Diouf responded that he could say nothing 
now, but that he understood our interest, adding that in 
the past he has been favorable to having Americans in 
senior positions.  Before him, he noted, there had been no 
American citizens in the ADG positions. 
 
----------------------------- 
Emergency Operations 
----------------------------- 
 
4.  The Ambassador emphasized that the US would increase 
contributions to FAO emergency operations only to the 
extent there is confidence among Washington agencies in the 
organization's ability to implement projects in the field 
effectively.  He noted that whereas we had provided funding 
for the locust infestation operation, USAID had not 
allocated money to FAO's appeal for emergency programs 
post-Tsunami, but rather had chosen to fund NGO's instead. 
The Ambassador also told Diouf that we are following 
closely FAO's "lessons-learned" assessment of difficulties 
found in managing the locust crisis. 
 
5.  Diouf opened his response by saying that the 
organization is more than willing to discuss means to build 
American confidence in FAO's emergency operations. 
However, he said, FAO had not found difficulty in finding 
funding from other countries for its Tsunami appeal and 
that more and more countries seem supportive, as evidenced 
 
by their willingness to fund emergency activities. 
 
6.  On the locust operation, he admitted that many things 
could be improved and that the emergency office was in the 
middle of identifying lessons learned.  We observed that we 
had heard that this assessment was not moving forward as it 
should.  It was in FAO's interest to identify not only what 
regulatory provisions needed changing, but also management 
issues.  Diouf responded that the fundamental problem was 
that money had begun flowing from donors eleven months 
after he had asked for donor assistance, and by that time, 
the infestation had become a crisis.  Nevertheless, he 
repeated, they had learned valuable lessons, and FAO was 
open to any suggestions we had. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Oil for Food Investigation 
--------------------------------- 
 
7.  We would like to be able to say that FAO's involvement 
in the Oil for Food program was free of the irregularities 
that have been found elsewhere, the Ambassador noted.  We 
would hope that any problems revealed by the Volcker 
Commission would be dealt with expeditiously and 
effectively.  We also hoped for close cooperation as we try 
to understand more fully FAO's past operations in Iraq. 
Diouf said that FAO had provided everything requested by 
the IIC and would cooperate to the extent possible with 
others, including ourselves.  He added that audit reports 
are available if requested by the Program or Finance 
Committees. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Independent External Evaluation 
----------------------------------------- 
 
8.  The Ambassador asked for Diouf's support in building 
G77, and particularly the African Group's, support for the 
Independent External Evaluation that is now in an early 
phase.  "We are playing ball," Diouf responded.  The 
evaluation is a good thing for FAO, he agreed, especially 
as it raises the profile of FAO activities.  He did not 
believe that there was lack of support among the Africa or 
other regional groups. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Food Aid and the Doha Round 
-------------------------------------- 
 
9.  We are concerned that trade negotiators could make Doha 
Round decisions that would limit flexibility in mechanisms 
now available for the delivery of food aid, the Ambassador 
outlined.  He encouraged Diouf to ensure that FAO's 
technical expertise in agricultural commodities trade 
helped inform the Geneva discussions.  Diouf agreed that 
FAO should provide facts and technical support.  We 
elaborated that FAO had a role to play not only in making 
input into the Geneva discussions, but also in assisting 
donor recipient countries in understanding food aid issues 
under discussion.  Our recent discussions with G77 permreps 
suggested much more needed to be done in order to keep them 
abreast of the discussions and the stakes involved. 
 
------------- 
Comment 
------------- 
 
10.  The discussion took place in a friendly business-like 
atmosphere.  With the exception of debt relief, Diouf 
carefully avoided getting aboard any of the initiatives and 
positions the Ambassador raised.  Nor did he oppose them. 
The Ambassador left Diouf single-sheet non-paper copies of 
his talking points, issue-by-issue.  These points will be 
considered in greater detail deeper within the 
organization, and we will seek opportunities to raise them 
further at other levels. 
 
HALL 
 
 
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 2005ROME00669 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED