US embassy cable - 05ANKARA3870

UNCLAS ANKARA 003870 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
OPIC FOR ROSS CONNELLY 
USDOC FOR DEFALCO 
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - CHRIS PLANTIER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: BEXP, EINV, TU, OPIC 
SUBJECT: TURKISH REPLY TO OPIC LETTER ON IZMIR RING 
ROAD 
 
1.  (U)  On July 5, Embassy received the following 
response to our June 3 diplomatic note that transmitted 
OPIC Acting CEO Connelly's letter to Deputy Prime 
Minister Sener. 
 
Begin Text.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the 
honour to inform that the letter from Ross J. Connelly, 
Acting President and CEO of Overseas Private Investment 
Corporation (OPIC), to State Minister and Deputy Prime 
Minister Mr. Abdullatif Sener has been forwarded to its 
High Addressee. 
 
In reply to this letter, H.E. Mr. Sener informed the 
Ministry that in 2005 due to the restraints of 
achieving the targets of the IMF economic programme, 
the allocations of funds for the highway projects like 
Izmir-Aydin highway (including Izmir ring highway) has 
been limited.  Therefore, in the beginning of this year 
the allocation of funds for the project was 23 million 
dollars, approximately 18 million of which was provided 
through foreign credit. 
 
However, General Directorate of Highways (Karayollari 
Genel Mudurlugu) and State Planning Organization 
attribute importance to the completion of the Izmir 
ring highway which has started 13 years ago. 
Therefore, the search for funds will be continued. 
 
Ankara, 29 June 2005.  End Text. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Connelly's letter and Ambassador Edelman's 
parallel letters to Finance Minister Unakitan and State 
Minister Babacan succeeded in drawing the attention of 
the Turkish government at the highest levels to the 
predicament faced by General Motors Acceptance 
Corporation (GMAC).  Both the Under Secretary of the 
Treasury and the Under Secretary of the State Planning 
Organization told ECON/C in separate meetings that this 
issue had received their full attention and that of 
their staff.  The GOT's basic problem remains 
identifying funds for this project within the envelope 
of the overall 2005 government investment budget. 
However, all or our interlocutors GOT seem to have 
grasped our key point that it is important to avoid 
turning this into a bilateral, government-to-government 
issue, which could become the case if the Highways DG 
were to declare GMAC/Dillingham in breach of contract 
and thereby call its OPIC-insured performance bond. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Washington should feel free to share this 
information with the company at its discretion. 
 
MCELDOWNEY