US embassy cable - 05ROME820

UNCLAS ROME 000820 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EB/ODF (DE MARCELLUS) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, ECON, EFIN, IT, IZ, IRAQI FREEDOM 
SUBJECT: IRAQ: ITALIAN ASSISTANCE TO DATE TOTALS EURO 78M 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 36580 
     B. ROME 574 
     C. ROME 58 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please protect accordingly, not 
for Internet publication. 
 
1. (U) Summary: The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
reports the GOI spent Euro 78 million ($101 million) on Iraq 
aid in 2003-2004.  For 2005, the GOI plans to disburse about 
Euro 30 million ($39 million) in additional reconstruction 
assistance, though this figure represents an estimate, rather 
than a hard budget number.  End summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Poloffs and Econoff simultaneously delivered ref A 
points to Luigi Maccotta, Director of the Iraq Task Force at 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and Frederica Ferrari 
Bravo, MFA Development Cooperation Office Director for the 
Middle East.  Maccotta's office provided a written response 
stating that in 2003 and 2004 Italy provided Euro 45.8 
million ($59.5 million, Euro=$1.30) in bilateral assistance 
to Iraq and an additional Euro 32 million ($41.6 million) via 
multilateral channels.  (Note: The GOI considers all of this 
money as falling under its Euro 200 million Madrid pledge. 
However, Euro 1.3 million ($1.7 million) was for delivery of 
medicine and food aid in the months immediately following the 
ground war and probably does not fit the USG definition of 
reconstruction assistance. End note.) 
 
3. (SBU) MFA Task Force member Damiano Francovigh told Poloff 
that the MFA Directorate for the Mediterranean and Middle 
East had a budget of Euro 14 million ($18.2 million) for new 
Iraq assistance initiatives in 2005.  Previously, Italian aid 
officials told Econoff that the GOI also plans to make 
another Euro 10 million ($13 million) donation to the 
International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI) 
in 2005.  These funds do not include money that will be spent 
by other Italian ministries.  For example, the Ministry of 
Innovation and Technology plans to spend Euro 3-4 million in 
2005 on its program to provide the Iraqi government with a 
basic computer networking infrastructure (ref C).  The 
Ministry of the Environment also plans to continue funding 
its "New Eden" marshland restoration project in Iraq with an 
additional 2005 donation of up to Euro 6 million.  Assuming 
all these funds materialize, GOI disbursements for 2005 would 
be around Euro 30 million ($39 million).  Embassy, however, 
notes that Italy is facing another difficult budget year (ref 
B), meaning additional delays in disbursements are possible. 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
NNNN 
	2005ROME00820 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED