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OO RUEHAG RUEHBZ RUEHDF RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHIK RUEHJO RUEHLZ RUEHMA
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DE RUEHRL #1007/01 1380917
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 180917Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8308
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0872
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0269
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 0298
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 1802
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0494
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1039
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1466
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BERLIN 001007 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC FOR BOBBY PITTMAN 
STATE FOR AF/CAMILLE JACKSON 
USEU FOR PATRICIA LERNER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON ECIN EMIN ETRD PREL GM
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR G-8 AFRICA PARTNERSHIP 
FORUM, BERLIN, MAY 22-23 
 
REF: A. 2006 BERLIN 207 
 
¶B. 2007 BERLIN 605 
¶C. 2006 BERLIN 693 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Chancellor Merkel will open 
the Eighth Africa Partnership Forum (APF) in 
Berlin immediately following the G-8 Finance 
MinistersQ Meeting in Potsdam May 19-20 and the 
German-World Bank Forum on May 21.  Hosted by the 
German Development Minister, the APF will set out 
the key components of GermanyQs G-8 development 
agenda with Africa for the Heiligendamm Summit, 
including financing mechanisms, donor 
harmonization, and trade agreements.  Many of the 
initiatives Germany envisions show an adoption of 
U.S. approaches to development, including 
increased engagement of the private sector and 
market-oriented trade policies.  End Summary. 
 
 
G-8 and EU Presidencies Precipitate New Thinking 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶2.  (SBU)  GermanyQs concurrent G-8 and EU 
presidencies have offered its development experts 
opportunities to revisit attitudes towards the 
U.S. and move to policies more in line with USG 
approaches.  Since 2006, the German Development 
Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and her team 
have consistently demonstrated an increased 
interest in working more closely with the USG, 
particularly in the G-8 process and on our own 
development priorities.  They seek our support as 
a key partner in engaging the emerging market 
countries, particularly China, in what the 
Germans hope will be their signature G-8 
initiative: a High Level Dialogue between the G-8 
and Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South 
Africa known as the "Heiligendamm Process." 
While the Process will cut across a spectrum of 
issues -- including energy, trade, intellectual 
property, and investment -- the development 
component will aim to implement new development 
strategies reflecting the growing importance of 
these five states.  Those around her say the 
Minister, who has long been a fixture on the left 
of the German political spectrum and is the 
longest-serving member of the current German 
government, sees the program as an important 
piece of her legacy.  With much of the MinisterQs 
domestic and international reputation riding on 
her producing deliverables for the German 
presidencies, the sixty-four year-old Wieczorek- 
Zeul has kept an eye towards her legacy as 
retirement looms. 
 
 
Financing Mechanisms and Donor Harmonization 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶3.  (SBU)  Wieczorek-Zeul wants the G-8 to pay 
particular attention to good governance -- 
Germany chose the theme QGrowth and 
ResponsibilityQ for their G-8 presidency -- 
while calling for the creation of innovative 
financing methods which would enable large 
segments of African society to contribute to 
economic growth.  The U.K. and World Bank have in 
some cases joined the U.S. in disagreeing with 
the German proposals on these initiatives due to 
technical and policy grounds.  However, it would 
be worth highlighting the positive change in 
German attitudes towards development policy that 
these efforts represent.  Wieczorek-Zeul is 
moving German development priorities toward a 
more market-oriented approach while drawing more 
closely from other U.S. development principles. 
Notably, Wieczorek-Zeul, who once clung closely 
 
BERLIN 00001007  002 OF 004 
 
 
to the 0.7% of GDP target for development aid as 
a matter of course for all developed countries, 
is now on record as naming the 0.7% figure as an 
imperative for Germany, rather than for the G-8 
overall. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  GermanyQs specific finance proposals 
- the creation of a regional microfinance fund 
(REGIMFA) and the local currency fund Q- also 
reflect new efforts towards deeper collaboration 
between the German Development and Finance 
Ministries.  At the same time, the MinisterQs 
efforts towards donor harmonization under the 
Making Finance Work for Africa (MFWFA) agenda 
would replicate in the G-8 context the key 
development-related achievement of GermanyQs EU 
Presidency.  On good governance, she also wants 
to leverage GermanyQs role in the establishment 
of the Extractive Industries Transparency 
initiative (EITI) to seek greater commitments 
from the G-8 on transparency in the raw materials 
sector.  (Note: German G-8 Sherpa Bernd 
Pfaffenbach served as the keynote speaker at the 
April EITI board meeting in Berlin.  End note.) 
On this theme, the Development Ministry has 
hosted a series of events during their 
Presidencies on access to raw materials in 
Africa, particularly emphasizing the activities 
of China. 
 
 
Health, Gender Priorities 
------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU)  Wieczorek-Zeul frequently cites her 
decades as a self-described feminist leader as 
the guiding principle toward her heightened 
sensitivity to gender issues and bases her 
enthusiasm for microfinance initiatives.  She 
sees these programs as primarily providing 
positive benefits to women.  The growing impact 
of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria on women 
remains one of the essential elements of the 
calls from Chancellor Merkel and Wieczorek-Zeul 
for additional support for the Global Fund. 
Chancellery officials indicated repeatedly that 
Merkel plans to renew calls for Global Fund 
support at Heiligendamm.  We therefore expect the 
Germans will watch closely any statements from 
the U.S. on the Global Fund specifically, or on 
HIV/AIDS, T.B., or Malaria generally.  (Note: 
They initially misinterpreted the President's 
Malaria Initiative as an effort to single out one 
disease for preferential attention at the expense 
of Fund commitments.  End note.) 
 
 
Merkel to Engage German Business 
--------------------------------- 
¶6. (SBU)  Chancellor Merkel, who will open the 
Africa Partnership Forum by adding her support to 
increased development assistance for Africa, 
plans to hold a business conference May 21 to 
promote investment in Africa.  Chancellery 
sources told the Embassy Merkel planned to invite 
CEOs of German companies and the leadership of 
German business associations in order to develop 
strategies for an increased private sector role 
in development assistance. 
 
 
Trade Elements Emerge at APF 
----------------------------- 
¶7.  (SBU)  Trade remains another key element of 
GermanyQs development agenda, particularly in its 
EU presidency.  On May 14, Wieczorek-Zeul led the 
European Council to adopt conclusions on the 
 
BERLIN 00001007  003 OF 004 
 
 
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between 
the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific 
(ACP) countries.  Wieczorek-Zeul told the press 
Qthe member states confirmed the goal of creating 
tariff- and quota-free access to the European 
market for all products, with a few transitional 
arrangements for particularly sensitive 
products,Q and added all the ACP countries 
promised to conclude the EPA negotiations before 
the end of 2007.  The EPAs will enable the EU 
Commission and the member states to provide 2 
billion euros a year in Qaid for tradeQ for 
developing countries, starting in 2010. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  German trade and development experts 
largely view the African Growth and Opportunity 
Act (AGOA) as a model for trade and development 
relations with Africa.  Nevertheless, German 
officials sometimes question U.S. Rules of Origin 
policies under AGOA with figures across the 
German government believing China, India, and 
Pakistan benefit disproportionately from AGOA's 
more liberal rules on textiles.  German 
officials, believing the U.S. has greater 
influence on China, India, and Pakistan than the 
other G-8 states, see the U.S. as the primary 
interlocutor with these countries.  The German 
Ministry for Economics and Technology (BMWi) and 
the Association of German Industry (BDI) believe 
that AGOA should be expanded to include more 
industrialized countries through similar 
agreements that merge of the best practices of 
AGOA and the EUQs Everything but Arms (EBA) 
initiative. 
 
¶9. (SBU)  GermanyQs AGOA critics in the 
Bundestag and BMWi say a large portion (80%) of 
AGOA trade is derived from oil and luxury 
products, like the U.S.-bound Mercedes and BMW 
vehicles produced in South Africa.  The 
Development Ministry also sees the AGOA 
limitations both in regional capacity and product 
eligibility as more restrictive than 
advantageous.  The Development Ministry wants to 
see steps in AGOA and similar trade regimes to 
focus on least developed countries to prevent 
China and India from profiting. 
 
 
View from the Bundestag 
----------------------- 
¶10. (SBU)  The Bundestag convened special 
debates May 10 focusing on GermanyQs development 
policy towards Africa.  Wieczorek-Zeul, an SPD 
Bundestag member, renewed GermanyQs pledge to 
increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) by 
2010 and to implement debt relief under the 
Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative 
-- the obligations of which Germany had largely 
met.  Although she lauded the current debt relief 
effort, Wieczorek-Zeul spoke out against a 
renewed push, except in the case of Liberia. 
Christian Ruck, the CDU/CSUQs development 
spokesman, endorsed for the MinisterQs agenda and 
pointed to a promising generation of new African 
leaders, including GhanaQs President Kufuor and 
LiberiaQs Johnson-Sirleaf, as role models for 
modern, cooperative, and accountable 
statesmanship. 
 
¶11. (SBU)  The opposition Free Democratic Party, 
led by development spokesman Karl Addicks, 
criticized the direct support for African 
government budgets provided by western countries, 
claiming it had led to increased corruption in 
Africa. 
 
BERLIN 00001007  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
TIMKEN JR.