This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ATHENS 003159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USAID FOR E&E (MEFFORD, STUDZINSKI) 
DEPT FOR EUR, EUR/SE, EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2015 
TAGS: EAID PREL AL GR BALKANS
SUBJECT: GOG COMMITS TO PROVIDE $600,000 TO 
ANTI-TRAFFICKING PROGRAM IN ALBANIA, EXPRESSES WISH FOR 
CLOSER ASSISTANCE COOPERATION 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR CHARLES RIES FOR REASONS 1.4 (B AND D) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  During his December 5 visit to Athens, 
USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia 
Thomas Mefford obtained the GoG's commitment to provide 
$600,000 in funding for a multilateral anti-trafficking 
program in Albania.  This was the culmination of almost two 
years of discussions between the GoG and USAID, led primarily 
by Deputy FonMin Evripidis Stylianides on the Greek side. 
Mefford held additional meetings with Hellenic Aid (HA) and 
with local NGOs focused on TIP.  He was joined on his visit 
by USAID Country Director for Albania Harry Birnholz and 
USAID Mission Albania's Anti-Trafficking Specialist, Arian 
Giantris.  End Summary. 
 
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DEPUTY FONMIN STYLIANIDES COMMITS $600,000 
TO ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN ALBANIA 
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¶2.  (C)  In his meeting with Mefford, Stylianides stressed 
the importance he ascribed to increased assistance 
cooperation with the USG: "We want to work with you, now and 
in the future."  He noted his first priority was fighting 
trafficking in persons, and that the GoG was looking forward 
to progress on the child repatriation agreement with the 
Albanian Government (Note: currently in final review status 
with the GoA).  He further noted the GoG had signed on 
Friday, November 29 a MOU with 12 Greek NGOs and 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) outlining how 
the GoG would cooperate with them on fighting TIP (septel). 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Stylianides immediately accepted Mefford's proposal 
for GoG participation in the next phase of the Transnational 
Action against Child Trafficking (TACT) project in Albania. 
Greece's participation in the project, which is currently 
funded by USAID ($1.5 million), Sida of Sweden, UNICEF, the 
Oak Foundation, the National Albanian American Council (NAAC) 
and the Terre des Hommes Foundation of Switzerland, will 
total $600,000 over a period of three years.  Stylianides 
promised to send a letter to Ambassador Ries confirming the 
GoG's funding commitment.  Birnholz, who noted that the Greek 
NGO ARSIS (Association for the Social Support of Youth, 
Hellas) already participated in the current phase of TACT, 
said he would work out the details of official GoG 
participation after returning to Tirana.  At a dinner hosted 
by the Ambassador Ries later the same day, Stylianides 
stressed his hope that Greek participation in TACT could 
serve as a template for even broader USAID-HA regional TIP 
cooperation.  Stylianides also asked Mefford to consider 
providing a training opportunity for a HA staffer at the 
USAID mission in Albania.  Mefford and Birnholz warmly 
accepted the idea and said they would follow up. 
 
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GoG Ideas for Other Cooperation with USAID 
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¶4.  (SBU) Stylianides and his staff outlined other areas of 
potential cooperation with USAID, including in the Balkans, 
Georgia, Egypt, and Africa: 
 
¶A.  Egypt.  Stylianides' political advisor George Pandremenos 
outlined three projects in Egypt: 
-- A $2.5 million project to renovate "Residence Antoniades" 
located near the Alexandria library which could house 
associated exhibitions and serve as administrative or 
dormitory space for scholars visiting the library. 
Pandremenos noted that the library has already committed 
$500,000 to the project, and the World Bank is willing to 
provide up to $1 million provided it can find matching funds. 
 
-- The renovation of the St. George Monastery in Cairo. 
USAID has already completed a feasibility study of the 
renovation, and HA is willing to co-finance project 
implementation; 
-- Construction of a school in the old Greek quarter of 
Cairo.  Stylianides emphasized this project could only take 
place once the residences of the quarter had been renovated, 
a project that has only just gotten started. 
 
¶B.  Georgia.  Stylianides' Chef de Cabinet, Dimitris Platis, 
said the GoG hoped to cooperate with USAID on a "rule-of-law" 
project in Georgia focused on combating attacks against Greek 
property in Tbilisi.  He noted that many Greeks had fled the 
capital as a result of violence there; local "Mafiosi" had 
murdered 17 Greek-origin Georgians and occupied many homes of 
Greek-origin Georgians.  It was the GoG's hope that, with 
improved training, Georgian law enforcement could better 
combat these crimes.  Mefford noted that the GoG's objectives 
for Georgia appeared to mesh well with those of USAID, and he 
agreed with Stylianides to promote a meeting between the U.S. 
and Greek ambassadors to Georgia to discuss the ideas. 
 
¶C.  Darfur.  Hellenic Aid's Emergency Humanitarian Director 
Nike Koutrakos said that HA's annual call for proposals was 
about to get off the ground and would have Darfur as a 
priority area.  The goal was to focus on "soft protection" 
such as improved lighting in refugee camps, which should 
hopefully reduce attacks on women. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Mefford welcomed the Greek ideas, and asked that 
the GoG forward complete proposals, which USAID would study 
closely. 
 
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Greek Assistance to the Balkans, Present and Future 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Stylianides outlined a number of other ideas for 
Greek assistance that did not involve USAID.  He noted the 
GoG had been "very active" in Albania, providing 180 million 
Euro in assistance to date.  Under PM Karamanlis, the GoG had 
developed an action plan for Albania that foresaw cooperation 
with Greek Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios among others, aimed 
at building schools in both the Greek-minority areas and in 
the north of the country.  Stylianides was hoping to utilize 
some of the 550 million Euro Greece had committed to the 
Balkan Reconstruction Fund (BRF) for the creation of a modern 
road connecting the towns of Southwest Albania with Greece, 
which he claimed previous PM Nano had approved in the face of 
some Albanian governmental opposition.  Unfortunately, he 
went on to say, the original feasibility study, which had 
been conducted by an Italian firm, would have to be redone. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Stylianides said the GoG was also working on a 
feasibility study for the construction of the four-lane 
"Corridor 10" road from Greece to north Serbia.  Current 
plans foresaw the GoG providing 50 percent of the total $200 
million in funding, the rest of which would be provided by 
the European Investment Bank (EIB).  Stylianides noted the 
potential to connect the road to Kosovo.  He said he had been 
in close touch with Belgrade on the project and hoped to 
receive a response by the end of the year. 
 
¶8.  (C)  Stylianides said Greek plans in the Balkans also 
extended to energy.  He pointed to the recent signing of the 
Southeastern Europe Energy Cooperative (SEEC) agreement, 
which creates a region-wide electricity regulatory authority 
to be headquartered in Athens.  He noted that a major crude 
oil pipeline already connects Greece with Kosovo, which 
Hellenic Petroleum hopes to extend to the Pristina airport. 
The pipeline would send crude oil to Skopje, and then refined 
petroleum products onwards to Pristina.  Stylianides 
indicated the GoG is already building homes, in cooperation 
with UNDP, for Serb returnees to Kosovo.  The Ambassador put 
these ideas into the context of the international community's 
hopes for an equitable and peaceful solution to the status of 
Kosovo and urged the Deputy Minister to consider how 
well-timed Greek assistance could be used with the Serbs to 
sweeten the final deal. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Stylianides said he was very conscious of how GoG 
diplomatic actions in the Balkans needed to take into account 
improving regional investment and trade.  The road project in 
Albania, for instance, had the potential to unlock a 
significant amount of Albanian-Greek trade.  Stylianides was 
in close touch with the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce 
on a 2006 conference in Thessaloniki on business in the 
Balkans. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Ambassador thanked Stylianides for his 
proactive approach to cooperation with USAID and underlined 
the key role such cooperation will play in the overall 
U.S.-Greek strategic partnership.  He noted the USG welcomes 
a strong Greek role in the Balkan region and said that, 
although U.S. and GoG capacities for action differ, our 
objectives track well.  Furthermore, Greece benefits from the 
partnership in a number of ways -- in the case of USAID's 
work in Albania, Greece is already profiting from increased 
Albanian capacity to fight TIP. 
 
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Other Mefford Meetings: Hellenic Aid and NGOs 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶11. (SBU) In addition to his meeting with Stylianides, 
Mefford also met with Deputy Director General for Hellenic 
Aid, Helen Zourbala.  She and her staff provided the USAID 
team with information about the modalities involved in 
Greece's assistance programs.  There is a yearly call for 
proposals, which is just about to start and should be 
completed by the end of March.  Greek assistance can only be 
provided to Greek NGOs or to multilateral organizations. 
Zourbala noted the GoG could fund TACT through ARSIS, for 
instance. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Mefford also conducted a round-table discussion 
with four Greek NGOs involved in combating TIP: the Human 
Rights Defense Center (KEPAD), ARSIS, STOPNow!, and the 
European Network of Women (ENOW).  The NGO consensus was to 
welcome the recently-signed MOU with the GoG, while taking a 
wait-and-see attitude regarding results.  The NGO leaders 
stressed the lack of trust between the GoG and the NGO 
community, which they said would take time to overcome.  They 
noted the importance of the MOU's implementation of an EU 
requirement for a month-long "reflection period" for victims 
of trafficking, which allowed them time to bring their 
situation to the attention of Greek law enforcement entities 
without victims in illegal status being subject to immediate 
arrest and possible deportation.  The Greeks also bemoaned 
the spotty nature of their public awareness campaigns, citing 
lack of funding.  Dina Vardaramatou, President of STOPNow! 
said that the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency had 
produced two free informational TV spots on TIP (prior to the 
Olympics) which had been very well-received by the Greek 
public.  Her organization hesitated asking Saatchi and 
Saatchi to give more of their time, and does not have enough 
money to fund a spot on their own.  Other participants in the 
discussion were Tenia Kyriaki, Legal Advisor to KEPAD, Niki 
Roubani, President of ENOW, and Katerina Poutou, Athens 
Representative of ARSIS. 
 
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Comment 
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¶13.  (SBU) Stylianides literally put his money where his 
mouth is through his significant funding commitment to the 
TACT project.  Post will follow up with the GoG and with our 
colleagues at Embassy Albania to make certain the GoG 
commitment gets quickly translated into action. 
RIES