VZCZCXRO6557
RR RUEHDE
DE RUEHAD #0090 0240912
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240912Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8079
INFO RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 6777
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0556
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA 1348
RUEHKU/AMEMBASSY KUWAIT 1190
RUEHMK/AMEMBASSY MANAMA 1281
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT 0594
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0996
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 1627
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000090 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/ELA, EB/IFD/ODF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAID PREL LE AE
SUBJECT: UAE MINSTATE FINANCE AND AMF HEAD ON LEBANON 
 
REF: A) Abu Dhabi 63 
B) Abu Dhabi 53 
 
¶1. (SBU) On January 22, Treasury Under Secretary for International 
Affairs Timothy Adams, Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner, 
Treasury DAS Ahmed Saeed, and Econchief met with UAE Minstate 
Finance Dr. Mohammed Khalfan bin Kharbash.  Adams told Dr. Kharbash 
that the U.S. planned to come to the Paris Donors' Conference for 
Lebanon with a generous package and encouraged the UAE to make a 
generous pledge as well.  He also explained that the International 
Monetary Fund would likely play a role in Lebanon's economic and 
financial stabilization.  Dr. Kharbash explained that he would 
attend the donors' conference and that the UAE delegation would be 
headed by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan 
(AbZ).  He committed to passing our concerns to AbZ.  Dr. Kharbash 
also said that he thought Lebanese agreement on an IMF funded 
program would be key to obtaining private sector buy-in. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On January 23, Adams discussed the Paris Donors' Conference 
with Arab Monetary Fund Director General Dr Jassim Al-Mannai (who 
will also attend the conference).  Al-Mannai said that he thought 
that conference would be crucial to Lebanon.  He said that he was 
optimistic that Arab Gulf states would be generous.  He was more 
concerned about Lebanon's ability to implement needed economic 
reforms, noting that donors would likely attach reform conditions to 
releasing the money.  Al-Mannai said that he thought Lebanese 
internal politics made it difficult for the Lebanese to capitalize 
on the conference.  The government managed to agree on the 
conference, but agreeing on reform commitments, was something 
different. 
 
¶3. (SBU) For its part, the AMF was providing Lebanon with both 
financial and technical assistance and had already provided $ 1 
billion in assistance linked to reform.  The AMF was willing to 
consider further assistance, but only if the Lebanese seriously 
committed to economic reforms. 
 
¶4. (U) This message has been cleared by U/S Adams. 
 
Sison