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RR RUEHDT RUEHKN
DE RUEHLI #0412/01 2100654
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R 290654Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY LISBON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7782
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0152
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0554
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0032
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RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0501
RUEHUM/AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR 0012
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0001
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LISBON 000412 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SBUSBY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM XB PO
SUBJECT: INTER-SESSIONAL MEETING OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC 
DEMOCRACY PARTNERSHIP 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY.  The ROKG (South Korea), current Chair of the 
Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership (APDP), hosted an 
inter-sessional meeting of APDP on the margins of the 
Community of Democracies Ministerial in Portugal on July 11. 
The ten governments represented received a briefing on APDP 
activities since last year's Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) 
and discussed drafts of the APDP Mission Statement and 
Organizational Guidelines for Election Observation Missions. 
Participants agreed to continue working together through APDP 
to strengthen democratic institutions in the Asia Pacific 
region.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) As agreed at the APDP Senior Officials Meeting in 
Seoul in October 2008, the ROKG hosted an inter-sessional 
meeting on the margins of the Community of Democracies 
Ministerial Conference in Lisbon.  The meeting was chaired by 
ROKG Deputy Foreign Minister Oh Joon and attended by 
representatives of Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mongolia, 
the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and the United 
States.  Christopher Camponovo, DRL Senior Advisor, and 
Michael Fuchs of S/P, represented the USG. 
 
¶3. (U) Before the APDP Inter-Sessional Meeting, Oh Joon met 
with Acting DRL A/S Karen Stewart to exchange views on APDP 
and to discuss the upcoming meeting.  During their breakfast, 
Oh Joon and Stewart discussed possibilities for who might 
take over the APDP Chair at the end of 2009.  The ROKG has 
approached the Philippines, Thailand and Timor-Leste, but 
none expressed interest, primarily due to previous 
commitments this year.  As a result, Oh Joon stated that the 
ROKG is willing to continue as APDP Chair until Spring 2010, 
which will provide more time to find a successor and should 
minimize potential conflicts with other international 
meetings.  Acting A/S Stewart indicated that we are 
appreciative of the ROKG's efforts as APDP Chair and that the 
USG will work with the ROKG to help find a new APDP Chair. 
She further expressed the USG's continuing commitment to 
APDP.  Although the new Administration is reviewing all of 
the USG's democracy-promotion activities, we will continue 
our participation in APDP, in particular, through funding a 
joint APDP/Bali Democracy Forum workshop and by possibly 
contributing to APDP election observations in 2010. 
 
¶4. (U) To begin the Inter-Sessional Meeting, the USG 
representative briefed participants on the APDP election 
observation missions to Bangladesh (December 2008) and to the 
Federated States of Micronesia (March 2009).  The 
participants agreed to invite both Bangladesh and the 
Federated States of Micronesia to participate in APDP.  The 
USG also encouraged APDP participants to consider where APDP 
might send election observation missions in 2009 and 2010 and 
suggested two possibilities for 2010 ) the Maldives and Sri 
Lanka.  Although no extended discussion followed this 
suggestion, in bilateral discussions after the meeting, 
several governments expressed interest in the proposal. 
 
¶5. (U) Following the briefing, the participants discussed two 
draft documents prepared and reviewed by "virtual" working 
groups:  an APDP Mission Statement and a set of 
Organizational Guidelines for APDP Election Observation 
Missions.  After discussion of the Mission Statement, only 
one section remained in brackets ) that which addresses any 
APDP member which "seriously fails to comply with one or 
several of the membership criteria."  In particular, India 
raised concerns over the ability of one-third of APDP's 
membership to raise the issue of a member's non-compliance, 
noting the potential for divisive discussion and the 
provision's inconsistency with APDP's inclusive nature.  With 
regard to the Organizational Guidelines, participants were 
comfortable with the document as revised to incorporate 
comments of the working groups and, accordingly, recommended 
that it be adopted at the next Senior Officials Meeting. 
 
¶6. (U) As a final matter, the ROKG asked participants to 
consider assuming the rotating APDP Chair sometime during the 
 
LISBON 00000412  002 OF 002 
 
 
first half of 2010, at which time the second SOM would take 
place.  Although this issue was not resolved in Lisbon, the 
meeting successfully maintained the momentum necessary for 
APDP's future sustainability. 
 
This cable was prepared by DRL Bureau. 
 
 
For more reporting from Embassy Lisbon and information about Portugal, 
please see our Intelink site: 
 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/portal:port ugal 
BALLARD