US embassy cable - 05MANAMA1676

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001676 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, EUR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM, KMPI, EAID, PREL, PGOV, PHUM, BA, AF, CA, JA, PK, TU, OVIP (RICE CONDOLEEZZA) 
SUBJECT: FORUM FOR THE FUTURE:  NOVEMBER 11 SENIOR 
OFFICIALS MEETING 
 
 
1.  (U) SUMMARY:  The Senior Officials Meeting of the BMENA 
Forum for the Future on November 11 finalized preparations 
for the Ministerial session the following day. 
Representatives of governments, civil society and the private 
sector reviewed progress on BMENA initiatives undertaken 
since last December's Forum in the areas of education, 
economy and democracy.  There was general agreement that 
considerable progress had been made, with perhaps the most 
significant achievement being the cooperative atmosphere of 
constructive dialogue that has developed between civil 
society and governments.  The USG explained plans to launch 
the Foundation for the Future (to support civil society) and 
the Fund for the Future (to support SMEs) on the margins of 
the Ministerial session.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------- 
Overview 
-------- 
 
2.  (U) The second annual Forum for the Future opened 
November 11 in Manama, Bahrain, with a Senior Officials 
Meeting to finalize preparations for the Ministerial meeting 
November 12.  The Forum includes government representatives 
from the G8 and the countries of the Broader Middle East and 
North Africa (BMENA) as well as civil society and business 
representatives involved in BMENA activities.  The Senior 
Officials Meeting was divided into four broad themes: 
Knowledge and Education; Finance Ministers Report; Civil 
Society and the Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD); and 
discussion of the Foundation for the Future and Fund for the 
Future. 
 
----------------------- 
Knowledge and Education 
----------------------- 
 
3.  (U) Delegates provided an update on the Education 
Framework for Action, created at the May 2005 Dead Sea 
Ministerial in Jordan.  Since that meeting, BMENA governments 
and their G-8 partners have held regular dialogues intended 
to move the agenda forward in three main areas: education 
quality, use of technology in the classroom, and inclusion of 
all segments of society, particularly women and girls.  The 
Egyptians announced that they would host the next 
Ministerial, planned for May 2006 in Sharm el-Sheikh. 
 
4.  (U) The second segment focused on the elimination of 
illiteracy, with presentations made by the governments of 
Algeria and Afghanistan.  Department of Education Deputy 
Chief of Staff Robin Gilchrist reaffirmed the U.S. commitment 
to work with countries in the region that make education 
reform a priority.  This includes political commitment at the 
highest levels to provide quality education for every citizen 
in each country.  She cited the No Child Left Behind Act, 
launched four years ago in the United States, as an example. 
Gilchrist further introduced the Global Learning Portal, a 
network to assist Arab educators to provide reliable 
educational resources at the national and international 
levels. 
 
5.  (U) The third segment centered on promoting youth skills 
for employment through a program called technical and 
vocational education and training (TVET).  Delegates from 
Japan and Jordan discussed results from the G8-BMENA TVET 
workshop they co-sponsored in September, including 
identification of the major challenges facing the region.  To 
address such problems as rising unemployment (which the 
Jordanian delegate said now totals 12.5 million people in 
Arab countries, including 32 percent of youth) and increasing 
poverty of semi-skilled workers, the German delegation 
explained the development of new training systems 
commensurate with today's complex work environment and the 
need for demand-driven rather than supply-driven training 
models. 
 
6.  (U) In the final segment, delegates from Morocco and 
Bahrain reported on the status of the two Entrepreneurship 
Centers planned in those countries.  Conceived during the 
first Forum in Rabat, the proposed regional centers for 
training and supporting entrepreneurs have yet to be 
launched.  The delegates reported that business plans have 
been completed and administrative structures have been put in 
place, but the question of financing for the two institutes 
has delayed their opening.  Delegates from the US and UK, two 
countries which have already provided financial support to 
establish the Centers, encouraged others government to 
contribute to the Centers. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Outcome of Finance Ministers Meetings 
------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (U) The UK provided an overview of discussions by BMENA 
Finance Ministers over the past year and turned to 
representatives of groups undertaking specific BMENA 
initiatives: The Arab Business Council (ABC), Arab Monetary 
Fund, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Consultative 
Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), and UNDP.  The ABC 
representative outlined five key challenges to improving the 
business environment in the region:  job creation, pluralism, 
education, anti-corruption, and peace.  The ABC is 
undertaking initiatives to address some of these, including 
the creation of country-specific National Competitiveness 
Councils and a G8-BMENA Investment Task Force.  The ABC 
representative complained that the vision and mission of the 
Forum for the Future was unclear to business and asked for 
greater clarity on how the Forum would address issues of 
interest to the private sector. 
 
8. (U) The IFC outlined progress in setting up the Private 
Enterprise Partnership (PEP MENA), including nine country 
offices and 59 projects.  The OECD reported on the two rounds 
of Working Group meetings held in several sectors and plans 
for a Ministerial meeting on investment to be held in Jordan 
in 2006.  UNDP plans to hold a meeting in Egypt in 2006 to 
reach conclusions on its series of workshops and seminars 
held on governance issues since 2003.  EB PDAS Greenwood 
expressed USG support for these initiatives, noting MEPI 
funding of PEP MENA and consideration of funding for CGAP. 
He explained the USG's strong interest in promoting SMEs in 
the region, which is why we are pressing for creation of the 
Fund for the Future.  Finally, Greenwood stressed the need to 
explore ways for government officials to interact with the 
business community regarding these initiatives, pointing out 
that it is the private sector that will ultimately create new 
jobs. 
 
------------------------------- 
Civil Society Thematic Meetings 
------------------------------- 
 
9. (U) Civil Society representatives reported on the results 
of four thematic meetings held under the BMENA umbrella over 
the past year: Women's Empowerment, Transparency, Human 
Rights, and Rule of Law.  The October meeting on Women's 
Empowerment in Manama identified 22 specific areas for 
potential action to strengthen the status of women as equal 
partners, many of which will constitute the agenda for a 
follow-up meeting in 2006.  The Transparency representative 
noted the need for a working group to study how corruption is 
preventing countries from reaching the UN,s Millennium 
Challenge goals.  She also reported on the transparency 
meeting's call for the creation of a foundation to support 
civil society activities as well as establishing an NGO 
tasked with coordinating follow-up by civil society on 
anti-corruption issues. 
 
10. (U) The Human Rights representative noted that one 
individual (Bahraini activist Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja) had been 
prevented from attending the human rights thematic meeting 
and pointed out that this had a negative impact on the 
credibility of the BMENA process.  Following this 
intervention, the Bahraini chair responded that participants 
in the thematic meetings were supposed to represent 
organizations and large numbers of people, not just 
themselves, which was the case of the individual in question. 
 The Human Rights rep reviewed priorities that emerged from 
the thematic meeting: reforming legislation on the 
registration and operation of NGOs, obstacles to freedom of 
expression and assembly, and an end to emergency laws and 
other extraordinary legislation.  The Human Rights meeting 
had recommended creating networks of NGOs to monitor and 
report on these priority issues and financing public 
information campaigns in support of human rights issues. 
 
11. (U) The Rule of Law (ROL) representative reported that 
its September meeting in Jordan had operated from the basis 
that civil society was interested in dialogue and not 
confrontation to resolve issues, but needed the freedom to 
operate, which is often not the case around the region.  The 
ROL thematic meeting made specific recommendations on 
improving NGOs' ability to register and operate without 
administrative or judicial review.  It also stressed the 
importance of judicial independence and called for the end of 
extraordinary courts and the simplification of rules and 
procedures in the judicial system. 
 
----------------------------- 
Democracy Assistance Dialogue 
----------------------------- 
 
12. (U) Interventions by government and civil society 
coordinators of the Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD) from 
Italy, Turkey, and Yemen all stressed the tremendous progress 
made since the DAD's launch at the Rabat Forum for the Future 
last year.  The new spirit of cooperation and dialogue 
between government and civil society represents a true 
watershed for the BMENA region.  The Turkish reps reported on 
efforts in support of women's empowerment and plans to hold 
the next meeting in 2006 with specific emphasis on gender 
equality.  Italian NGO President Emma Bonino described the 
platform for action developed at the September meeting in 
Rabat, which should form the basis for further 
government-civil society cooperation. 
 
13. (U) Several civil society representatives took the floor 
and echoed their satisfaction with the improved nature of 
cooperation with governments in the year since the DAD was 
launched.  They all stressed concerns, however, about the 
lack of a mechanism to ensure follow-up on recommendations 
coming out of meetings with civil society.  Almost all of the 
civil society and government reps during this session praised 
the creation of the Foundation for the Future as providing 
civil society with the financial ability to play its full 
role in the political process. 
 
------------------------- 
Foundation for the Future 
------------------------- 
 
14.  (U) NEA DAS Carpenter opened a session on the 
establishment of the Foundation for the Future and the Fund 
for the Future, both of which were scheduled to be formally 
announced by Secretary Rice the following day on the margins 
of the Ministerial.  The Foundation will be an international, 
not-for-profit institution promoting freedom and democracy in 
the broader Middle East by issuing grants to NGOs, civil 
society organizations, individuals, and academic 
institutions.  The Fund will provide equity to 
small-to-medium sized enterprises to support entrepreneurship 
and create jobs.  A Draft Charter of Principles shaping the 
establishment of the Foundation was distributed for 
discussion, with the hope that more governments would commit 
to be partners in this project. 
 
15.  (U) A Kuwaiti government representative raised a 
question that was of interest and concern to other delegates; 
namely, with governments being called on to finance the 
Foundation, yet civil society organizations running its 
operations, what provisions would be put in place to ensure 
that those organizations do not undermine their own 
governments?  The Egyptian delegation also noted that many 
countries have regulations on the funding of civil society 
groups, which would need to be reflected in the final 
agreement.  DAS Carpenter closed the session by stating that 
the Foundation would be a completely independent organization 
with an independent board.  He added that the USG was 
committed to work together with governments from the region 
and elsewhere and civil society organizations to jointly 
develop a mechanism to support the growth of civil society in 
the region. 
 
MONROE