VZCZCXRO1589
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHHE #0270/01 1760525
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 240525Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4376
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0061
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE 0003
RUEHMV/AMEMBASSY MONROVIA 0027
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 4894
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA 0046
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0077

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HELSINKI 000270 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL OECD UN FI
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR BARRETT MEETS WITH FORMER FINNISH 
PRESIDENT AHTISAARI 
 
Classified By: Acting PolChief Lisa Conesa for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.(SBU) Ambassador Barbara M. Barrett paid a courtesy call on 
former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari on June 10 at the 
Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) office in Helsinki. 
Ahtisaari told Ambassador Barrett that he feels half 
American, having lived in New York from the beginning of 1977 
to the summer of 1991.  He noted his association with the UN 
over the last 30 years through 5 secretary generals and many 
US presidents and that he is now on the boards of Silatech 
(established 2007) and ImagineNations. 
Ambassador Barrett thanked him for his fine work in Kosovo 
and in Aceh before that.  They then discussed Kosovo and CMI 
in greater detail. 
 
¶2. (C) Kosovo: Ahtisaari compared Russian and Serbian 
behavior in Kosovo to that of school bullies.  He mentioned 
that the UN Secretary General seems uneasy making moves there 
but that a clear handover from the UN to the EU is necessary. 
Ahtisaari believes that the Secretary General is under 
pressure from the Russians; he also did not see a current 
reason for the  legalistic attitude the Russians and Serbs 
are taking about Kosovo further stating that it should have 
come up in 1989 instead of now. 
 
¶3. (SBU) CMI:  On his CMI venture, Ahtisaari compared some of 
the Swiss NGO successes worldwide and their post conflict 
budgets, and pondered whether egalitarian Finnish culture 
would accept such a large budget here.  He intends to pursue 
strategic partnerships for his work throughout Europe and 
with the USG, hoping to include half a dozen of his 
long-standing governmental relationships (he mentioned the 
Nordics, Netherlands, Germany, UK).  He is specifically 
talking to Ireland and Switzerland.  He expects to start 
talking to the USG in due course and is finalizing a US 
501(c) 3 number. He also expressed a desire to work with the 
OECD Development Assistance Community.  Currently, the CMI is 
receiving more requests than they have capacity to fulfill 
and Ahtisaari sees no end to what they could do. 
 
¶4. (C) Burma:  Ahtisaari was asked to do a Burma report in 
support of the Secretary General's special envoy work. He 
noted that there was talk of his going to see the Generals in 
private with no publicity.  He thought the disaster may help 
push them toward contact. He mentioned Sri Lanka and the 
Iraqi Kurds as other possible areas for work noting that the 
starting point is when the main actors see eye-to-eye on what 
should be done. 
 
¶5. (C) Liberia:  Ahtisaari said that Liberia is undergoing a 
basic census and currently has no identification process to 
support its structure.  Activity is proceeding province to 
province.  Post civil war planning for development activities 
requires a basic idea of who is there and that means 
registrations of births and deaths.  When asked how the USG 
might help, he mentioned small-scale financial support for 
activities.  A conference is planned for next year 
surrounding women, the Liberian woman president and President 
Halonen are involved. He noted that if Africa has hope, it's 
due to women there providing leadership. 
 
¶6. (C) Middle East, North Africa, Indonesia:   Ahtisaari gave 
a read out of the inaugural Silatech Board of Trustees 
meeting in Doha June 1.  The wife of the Emir of Qatar, Her 
Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned (HH Sheikha 
Mozah), also the Chairperson of Silatech's Board of Trustees 
has seeded $100 million, with a goal of obtaining additional 
contributions to reach $1 billion toward advancing employment 
of young people (18-30) in the Middle Eastern and North 
African regions as a way to fight 
terrorism.  They plan to train young people in the skills 
needed for working in the private sector, encouraging 
entrepreneurship, and providing funding for the transition 
from small to medium size businesses (medium size businesses 
employ additional people).  Other countries involved in these 
initiatives include Qatar, Dubai, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco and 
Syria.   About Indonesia and ImagineNations, he mentioned 
private and World Bank funding of $350 million and the 
purchase of an existing bank, in which ImagineNations Group 
has a minor share.  Ahtisaari said that while microfunding is 
good, especially for women, microfunding schemes do not 
generate employment so funding 
must exist to raise the scale from small to medium.  He 
stated that the Indonesian government is excited.  They are 
also training in Indonesia to meet Japan's futures needs; 
 
HELSINKI 00000270  002 OF 002 
 
 
including worker rights and family support from the worker's 
perspective.  He believes the Indonesian government is 
excited about the program. Ahtisaari briefly mentioned his 
board membership with EastWest Institute noting a recent idea 
occurred to them that people with money could choose 
investments and keep their principal 
while their interest income would fund initiatives. 
 
¶7. (C) Iraq Meetings:  Ahtisaari turned the topic to the 
innovative meetings held with Iraqis in September and again 
in April, with Finnish MFA sponsorship.  He said that the 
impetus to hold the meetings came from Tufts and that he can 
provide the electricity and atmosphere. The logistics proved 
difficult; half of the participants were on travel lists and 
most were coming from Baghdad or 
Amman.  He complained that "no proper facilities" exist in 
Baghdad and that while Amman would offer facilities, Amman is 
more complicated than Finland. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  The meeting closed with Ambassador Barrett thanking 
former President Ahtisaari for his ardent support of the 
Transatlantic relationship. 
BARRETT