VZCZCXYZ0009
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKI #0677/01 2310742
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180742Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8312

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000677 
 
AID for AA/AFR and AFR/EA 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PREL PGOV CG
SUBJECT:  KABILA MEETS AUGUST 5 WITH DONOR COMMUNITY ON DEVELOPMENT 
ISSUES FOR FIRST TIME SINCE ELECTION 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  President Joseph Kabila convoked bilateral and 
multilateral development partners August 5 to assess progress on his 
development priorities and to review social and economic development 
issues.  This meeting was significant as it was President Kabila's 
first encounter with the international community on development 
issues since his election in late 2006.  The genesis of the meeting 
was a discussion between Kabila and P3+2 ambassadors over mutual 
frustrations with the pace of development progress.   Some tangible 
progress has been made in upgrading the Congo's infrastructure, 
improving its health care and expanding the national education 
system since Kabila's election, yet there is consensus that 
development programs must be accelerated.  The president may also 
feel he is under political pressure to step up the pace of 
development so he can point to real gains in time for the 2011 
elections.  An informal translation of the official communique on 
the meeting is at para. 9; the original text in French is at para. 
¶10.  End summary. 
 
Kabila and his "cinq chantiers" 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) In October 2006, then-candidate Joseph Kabila announced that 
as president his economic development plan would focus on progress 
in "cinq chantiers" (literally "five work areas") or prioritized 
sectors:  education, health, infrastructure, water and electricity, 
and job creation.  Promising big changes and reform within the 
context of democracy and free trade, he raised the hopes of millions 
of Congolese who were (and still are) living in dire poverty. Two 
years later, progress on the five development priorities has been 
less than anticipated. 
 
¶3.  (U) On August 5 Kabila convened a meeting attended by high-level 
members of his economic development team, and representatives of the 
World Bank, the IMF, the European Commission, the European Union, 
the UN, the African Development Bank (ADB), as well as 
representatives of the United States, the UK, China, Japan, France, 
Germany and South Africa, among others.  The main goals of the 
meeting as billed by its organizers were to present and evaluate 
exactly which programs are in place to accelerate economic and 
social development, which strategies for development are working and 
what are not, as well as how the overall efficiency of assistance 
programs can be improved. 
 
Government, donors report on problems 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) GDRC representatives highlighted progress to date as well as 
challenges.  The Minister of Finance reported on significant 
commitments of foreign assistance.  With reference to programs of 
the World Bank, African Development Bank and the European Community, 
he noted substantial lags between commitments and disbursements and 
showed how assistance tends to be concentrated in places such as 
Kinshasa, rather than flowing to the provinces with the highest 
levels of poverty.  The Planning Minister described improvements in 
donor coordination processes, consistent with the Paris Declaration 
on Aid Effectiveness.  The Minister of Infrastructure and Public 
Works gave details of actual and planned investments in 
transportation infrastructure, showing how Western and Chinese 
investments will complement one-another. 
 
¶5.  (U) Statements by SRSG Alan Doss, French Ambassador Bernard 
Prevost (speaking on behalf of bilateral donors), and World Bank 
Director Marie Francoise Marie-Nely stressed the donors' commitment 
to work with the GDRC, identified constraints to effective program 
implementation and proposed measures to improve coordination and to 
achieve quick wins. 
 
¶6.  (U) President Kabila affirmed his desire to hold two or three 
such meetings each year, and was quick to distinguish these 
consultations from the processes of the transitional period. He 
noted that security and stability are essential for the development 
agenda to succeed, making explicit reference to Eastern Congo. He 
stated his belief that the DRC's relations with China and the West 
can be reconciled and that related issues surrounding HIPC debt 
relief can be resolved. 
 
Outcomes 
-------- 
 
¶7.  (U) Outcomes of the meeting will include a Performance Agreement 
that will summarize principles of development cooperation between 
the GDRC and the international community and an Action Plan for 
follow-up.  The Action Plan is still under discussion but includes 
processes to accelerate the implementation of development programs 
and improve communication.  There is also a consensus that two or 
three quick wins should be identified in each of the President's 
"cinq chantiers."  Measures under discussion include, among others: 
increasing primary school enrollments by 1 million in September 2008 
and an additional 1 million in September 2009; distributing 20 
million insecticide-treated mosquito nets by the end of 2009 to 
combat malaria; and restoring generating capacity of the Inga 
 
hydroelectric complex according to fixed targets. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment:  The meeting was seen as productive and some 
concrete measures to reform existing development programs were put 
forward, as noted above.  President Kabila pledged to convene a 
meeting before the end of the year to continue to evaluate 
development programs.    The meeting was significant in so far as it 
was the first time the President has met with the development 
community on development issues since his election in late 2006. 
Moreover, it may help to clear the path for more effective use of 
development resources. Simple politics seems to have been factor in 
Kabila's decision to hold this meeting.  Although there are some 
tangible results to show for his campaign promises, Kabila realizes 
that time is running out and he needs greater donor community 
support to achieve progress on his five prioritized spheres of 
development if he is to recover popular support for re-election in 
¶2011.  In this connection, we note that the meeting was given ample 
media coverage.  End comment. 
 
¶9.  (U) Following is an unofficial Mission translation of the 
official communique issued shortly after the meeting. 
 
BEGIN TRANSLATION OF COMMUNIQUE: 
 
On Tuesday August 5, 2008, His Excellency, Joseph Kabila, President 
of the Democratic Republic of Congo met with bilateral development 
partners to take stock of progress on the Poverty Reduction Strategy 
Paper (PRSP) and, in particular, on the implementation of the 
nation's five priority areas for development [education, health, 
infrastructure, water and electricity, and the creation of jobs]. 
The principal objectives of this high-level meeting were to assess 
the effectiveness of aid through projects funded by partners and 
progress in the fight against poverty, as well as to search for 
possible ways and means to more quickly implement programs in these 
five priority sectors. 
 
Several themes relating to the daily lives of the Congolese people 
were addressed. These include, notably, the improvement in: 
 
- Access to primary schools for all children and, in particular, as 
early as the beginning of this coming term, September 2008; 
- Access to primary health care and the reduction of the incidence 
of malaria and HIV/AIDS; 
- Access to potable water and electricity; 
- The state of infrastructure (roads, agricultural trails, inland 
waterways, railways) in order to develop economic activity and 
reduce the cost of transporting merchandise. 
 
It was therefore agreed to: 
- Accelerate reforms in priority sectors; 
- To improve and simplify the procedures regarding the 
implementation of programs and projects of partners; 
- To step up efforts toward good economic governance; 
- To concentrate support from partners into the government's 
priority sectors; 
- To better utilize the services of national institutions and to 
strengthen them; 
- To assess the progress of the DSCRP, the Priority Action Plan 
(PAP) and the five priority sectors every quarter; 
- To better inform the public on current development projects; 
- To develop a performance agreement aiming to accelerate aid 
effectiveness in the DRC. 
 
Finally, this meeting was an important opportunity to reaffirm the 
common will of both Congolese institutions and development partners 
to work together in a spirit of mutual respect and complementarity. 
 
End translation of communique 
 
 
¶10.  (U) Following is original text in French of communique. 
 
Begin original text: 
 
CE MARDI 5 AOUT 2008, SON EXCELLENCE MONSIEUR JOSEPH KABILA, 
PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO, A RENCONTRE LES 
PARTENAIRES AU DEVELOPPEMENT POUR FAIRE LE POINT SUR L'ETAT 
D'AVANCEMENT DU DSCRP ET EN PARTICULIER DES CINQ CHANTIERS DE LA 
REPUBLIQUE. LA RECHERCHE DE L'EFFICACITE DE L'AIDE, A TRAVERS LES 
PROJETS FINANCES PAR LES PARTENAIRES, LA LUTTE CONTRE LA PAUVRETE ET 
LA RECHERCHE DES VOIES ET MOYENS POUR ACCELERER LA MISE EN QUVRE DES 
5 CHANTIERS DE LA REPUBLIQUE ONT CONSTITUE LES PRINCIPAUX OBJECTIFS 
DE CETTE RENCONTRE DE HAUT NIVEAU. 
 
PLUSIEURS THEMES TOUCHANT A LA VIE QUOTIDIENNE DES CONGOLAIS ONT 
AINSI ETE ABORDES. IL S'AGIT NOTAMMENT DE L'AMELIORATION DE : 
 
-L'ACCES A L'ECOLE PRIMAIRE EN PARTICULIER ET CE, DES LA RENTREE DE 
SEPTEMBRE 2008 ; 
-L'ACCES AUX SOINS DE SANTE PRIMAIRE ET LA REDUCTION DE L'INCIDENCE 
DE LA MALARIA ET DU VIH/SIDA ; 
 
-L'ACCES A L'EAU POTABLE ET A L'ELECTRICITE ; 
-L'ETAT DES INFRASTRUCTURES (ROUTES, PISTES AGRICOLES, VOIE 
NAVIGABLES, CHEMIN DE FER) POUR DEVELOPPER L'ACTIVITE ECONOMIQUE ET 
REDUIRE LES COUTS DE TRANSPORT DES MARCHANDISES. 
 
POUR CELA, IL A ETE CONVENU : 
 
-D'ACCELERER LES REFORMES DANS CES SECTEURS PRIORITAIRES ; 
-D'AMELIORER ET SIMPLIFIER LES PROCEDURES DE MISE EN QUVRE DES 
PROGRAMMES ET PROJETS DES PARTENAIRES ; 
-D'ACCELERER LES EFFETS EN MATIERE DE BONNE GOUVERNANCE ECONOMIQUE ; 
 
-DE CONCENTRER LES APPUIS DE PARTENAIRES SUR LES SECTEURS 
PRIORITAIRES DU GOUVERNEMENT ; 
-DE MIEUX UTILISER LES SERVICES DES INSTITUTIONS NATIONALES ET DE 
LES RENFORCER ; 
-DE FAIRE LE POINT CHAQUE TRIMESTRE POUR VERIFIER L'ETAT 
D'AVANCEMENT DU DSCRP, DU PAP ET DES CINQ CHANTIERS ; 
-DE MIEUX INFORMER LA POPULATION DES REALISATIONS EN COURS. 
-D'ELABORER UN PACTE DE PERFORMANCE POUR ACCELERER L'EFFICACITE DE 
L'AIDE EN RDC. 
 
CETTE RENCONTRE A FINALEMENT ETE L'OCCASION DE REAFFIRMER LA VOLONTE 
COMMUNE DES INSTITUTIONS CONGOLAISES ET DES PARTENAIRES AU 
DEVELOPPEMENT D'QUVRER DANS UN ESPRIT DE RESPECT MUTUEL ET DE 
COMPLEMENTARITE ". 
 
End communique 
 
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