US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO666

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000666 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/T, INL/C/CJ, IO/EX/OB, SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC, PREL, SNAR, CE 
SUBJECT: COLOMBO PLAN: CONSENSUS ON CONSTITUTIONAL 
AMENDMENT ON ARREARS 
 
REF: A. STATE 61611 AND PREVIOUS 
 
     B. 04 COLOMBO 1800 
     C. 04 STATE 210806 
     D. 04 COLOMBO 1412 
 
1.  This message is an Action Request -- Please see Para 4. 
 
2.  CONSENSUS ON ARREARS AMENDMENT:  During the April 5 
Colombo Plan Council meeting, poloff delivered points in Ref 
A, which were received with thanks and appreciation by the 
delegate from Thailand and the President and Secretary 
General of the Colombo Plan.  Other member countries also 
expressed their approval of the USG's position to join 
consensus on the proposed amendment on arrears.  The Korean 
delegate asked about the protocol for the amendment coming in 
to force, to which the Secretary General replied that the 
amendment can only be legally adopted during the biennial 
Consultative Committee Meeting, next scheduled for 2006.  In 
the interim, the Secretary General stated, the Council can 
recommend that the amendment be put into immediate practice 
and call on the Secretariat to invite member countries to 
participate in all training programs.  The Council agreed to 
the "immediate benefit" of the amendment and approved the 
Secretary General's suggestion to enact its provisions. 
 
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3.  FIRST DIVIDEND:  As if Mongolia knew that such an 
amendment was inevitable, the Secretary General presented a 
request by the Government of Mongolia -- which, per normal, 
did not have a representative at the Council meeting -- to 
establish a five-year repayment plan for its arrears.  The 
Secretary General further noted that the repayment time frame 
 
SIPDIS 
put forth by Mongolia was less than both the USG's 10-year 
option and the new amendment's 7-year limit.  The Council 
agreed to Mongolia's request for a repayment plan. 
 
4.  ACTION REQUEST:  Mission notes, per Refs B-D, that the 
USG has not yet paid Colombo Plan dues for FY2005 (Year 
2004/2005, in Colombo Plan parlance) and requests that a fund 
cite be cabled as soon as possible. 
 
LUNSTEAD