US embassy cable - 05CAIRO3841

UNCLAS CAIRO 003841 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR NEA, NEA/ELA, NEA/PI 
USAID FOR ANE (GOLD) AND DCHA/DG (KAUFMAN) 
TUNIS FOR MULREAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KDEM, KMPI, PGOV, PREL, EG, Democracy 
SUBJECT: MAY 10 MEETING OF EMBASSY'S INSTITUTIONS OF 
DEMOCRACY WORKING GROUP (IDWG) 
 
REF: STATE 3177 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1.  (SBU)  The Charge chaired the May 10 IDWG meeting, which 
was attended by the Acting DCM; USAID Deputy Director and 
USAID D&G staff; PA Counselor and PA staff; and ECPO staff. 
MEPI Tunis Regional Director Peter Mulrean also attended. 
The meeting opened with Mulrean's review of MEPI activities 
in the region, including the increasing focus on activities 
with a strong link to democracy promotion and support. 
Mulrean underscored the willingness of his office to assist 
Embassy Cairo in democracy promotion activities in Egypt in 
connection with the planned presidential and parliamentary 
elections. 
 
2.  (SBU)  USAID briefed the IDWG on progress in making 
directly-funded democracy grants, with an emphasis on 
elections, to Egyptian and international non-governmental 
organizations using USAID's Annual Program Statement (APS) 
funding mechanism.  USAID noted that it had reviewed 53 
concept papers and is moving ahead with funding seven 
projects.  USAID described the process of turning concept 
papers, many in Arabic, into bona fide proposals, and 
outlined the financial management and other technical 
assistance it was providing to Egyptian organizations which 
are applying for grants under the APS.  USAID noted that it 
aims to fund the seven projects, for a total value of $1.5 
million, by June.  USAID has another nine proposals that it 
aims to fund shortly thereafter.  (Note:  Subsequently, on 
May 12, USAID/Cairo and the Embassy, along with 
USAID/Washington and NEA/PI representatives, held a 
conference call to confirm that a strong consensus exists 
within the USG that the National Democratic Institute and the 
International Republican Institute should be encouraged to 
seek funding for Egyptian democracy activities under the APS. 
 End note.) 
 
3.  (SBU)  USAID also briefed the IDWG on the elections 
technical assistance that it plans to roll out through an 
Indefinite Quantity Contract, noting that it aims to sign 
agreements with Development Associates and/or International 
Federation for Electoral Systems by mid-June and have 
activities on the ground by July.  (Note:  Subsequent 
revision to the request for proposals, resulting from the 
conference call described in paragraph two, have added one 
week to the procurement process.  End note.) 
 
4.  (SBU)  At the conclusion of the IDWG, Mulrean and USAID 
and PA staff discussed coordination of media training and 
support activities. 
 
5.  (U)  MEPI Tunis Regional Director Peter Mulrean cleared 
this cable. 
 
 
Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. 
 
GRAY