US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO325

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000325 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSTIVE 
 
FOR SA, SA/INS/D 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  SRI LANKA CORE GROUP MEETING ON TOKYO DONOR 
CONFERENCE/WASHINGTON  "SEMINAR" 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
1.   On February 25, Minister for Economic Reform, 
Milinda Moragoda, chaired a meeting of the "Core Group" 
to oversee the planning for the Donor Conference now 
scheduled for Tokyo June 9-10.  Donors who have been 
invited to co-chair the Tokyo meeting were requested to 
be part of this Core Group.  Those attending the meeting 
included the Japanese Ambassador and representatives of 
JABEC, the Norwegian Ambassador, the Country directors 
for the IMF, World Bank, ADB and UNDP and Ambassador 
Wills and the USAID Director. The GSL representatives 
included the Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Secretary 
General of the Department of External Resources and 
several key advisors in the Ministry of Policy 
Development and Implementation. 
 
2.  In preparation for the Tokyo Conference, four pre- 
Tokyo Seminars will be held, the first of which is 
planned for Washington on April 14 for a half day. 
Ambassador Wills pointed out that this seminar cannot 
have LTTE representation. This was accepted by the 
group.  When asked about US views on program content for 
the Washington Seminar, the Ambassador deferred to the 
GSL to determine what it wanted to accomplish at that 
seminar.  Minister Moragoda stressed that he hoped that 
the Washington event would feature attendance by 
ministers attending the IMF and IBRD annual meetings. 
He was especially interested in having ministers from 
countries not attending any of the other seminars or the 
Tokyo conference at the Washington meeting, i.e., Saudi 
Arabia, the Gulf States, etc.  The second seminar will 
be hosted by Brussels (and Norway); the third is planned 
for Colombo on May 3 and the Japanese Ambassador said 
the GOJ would like to host a fourth seminar in Tokyo 
prior to the main conference in June. 
 
3.  The discussion covered a variety of topics including 
the purpose and composition of the Wider Tokyo group, 
the status and timing for the completion of key 
documents to be presented in Tokyo and their 
availability prior to the Conference, and preliminary 
preparations for the seminars and outline for the Tokyo 
Conference program.  There was considerable discussion 
regarding the issue that is being raised in other fora 
by several bilaterals about attaching conditionality to 
pledges in Tokyo.  Ambassador Wills pointed out that the 
LTTE needs to do something meaningful prior to Tokyo to 
get maximum generosity from the donors and to bolster 
the GSL's standing in the south. 
 
4..The next Core Group planning meeting to discuss in 
more detail the programs and expected outcomes of the 
four pre-Tokyo seminars and Tokyo Conference itself is 
scheduled for March 10 and will be followed by an 
information meeting with an Expanded Tokyo group. 
 
5. Comment:  We still don't know exactly what the GSL 
wants to accomplish at the Washington seminar or at the 
other three pre-Tokyo seminars.  But we expect this to 
be clarified in the days ahead as the GSL focuses on the 
matter.  This meeting was its first attempt to do so. 
Our guess is that the Washington seminar will be an 
occasion to attract high-level, preferably ministerial- 
level donors to a discussion of the situation in Sri 
Lanka.  No pledging will be involved.  We shall be pesky 
to the point of obnoxiousness in seeking clarification 
of what the GSL and the Core Group want to emerge from 
the Washington seminar because we know the Department 
and USAID are keen to be informed. 
 
WILLS