VZCZCXRO2209
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #1830/01 2700726
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 260726Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0215
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2548
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PNEH 0525
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 3251
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 0622
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 8529
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2279
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 3101
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 3122
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 6334
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001830 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/RSP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/EP 
DEPT FOR EB/IFD/OMA 
DEPT ALSO FOR OES/IET AND OES/ETC/TED 
USAID FOR LCHILES 
BANGKOK FOR USAID/PARISH 
CAMBODIA FOR USAID 
MANILA FOR USAID 
HANOI FOR USAID 
COMMERCE FOR 4430/KELLY 
SINGAPORE FOR BAKER 
 
E.O. 12598: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM ID BM
SUBJECT: ASEAN DIALOGUE PARTNERS RAMP UP TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  The European Commission (EC), Germany and 
Australia will significantly increase technical assistance to ASEAN 
and the ASEAN Secretariat over the next few years.  Japan and the 
Asian Development Bank (ADB) also have large ongoing assistance 
programs for ASEAN.  Participants at an internal EC workshop on 
trade-related assistance in Jakarta noted that donor assistance to 
ASEAN is now several times the ASEAN Secretariat's own budget.  End 
Summary. 
 
AusAID Scales Up ASEAN Assistance 
--------------------------------- 
¶2. (U) The Australian Government's Overseas Aid Organization 
(AusAID) has launched the second phase of its ASEAN-Australia 
Development Cooperation Programme (AADCP-II), which places a high 
priority on assisting ASEAN with economic integration challenges. 
AACDP-II Director Rebecca Lannin, an AusAid employee, will manage 
the program's activities at the ASEAN Secretariat.  The A$57 million 
($48 million) project, which will run for five years, will provide 
research, policy advice and staff to the ASEAN Secretariat.  The 
AADCP-II is also set up to use the ASEAN Secretariat's own staff and 
systems for project development, rather than creating an 
independently run project. In addition to AADCP-II, AusAid is 
preparing to launch a A$25 million ($21 million) Economic 
Cooperation Work Program (ECWP) to support the implementation of the 
ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.  The ECWP will run 
for five years. 
 
EC Set to Launch Five New Programs in 2009-10 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶3. (U) The European Commission and Germany are also in the process 
of increasing their support to ASEAN.  The second phase of the EC's 
ASEAN Programme for Regional Integration Support (APRIS II), a 
three-year, 6.2 million Euro ($9.1 million) project focused on 
providing assistance on standards, customs, investment and ASEAN 
capacity building, was launched in 2006.  In addition, the EC plans 
to launch five additional three-year ASEAN programs in 2009 and 
¶2010.  These programs will focus on statistical capacity building 
($8.8 million), intellectual property rights protection ($7.4 
million), support for the EC-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement ($3.7 
million), civil aviation liberalization (budget not yet determined), 
and non-traded related sectors development ($5.9 million).  The EC 
is also in the early stage of planning a program to support ASEAN's 
work on customs, according to the Delegation of the EC in Jakarta. 
Germany also launched its own ($2.6 million) one-year program to 
provide technical assistance to the ASEAN Secretariat and member 
states in 2008.  The German government plans to renew the program on 
an annual basis with a budget of roughly $1.5 million per year. 
 
Japan and ADB Maintain Sizeable Programs 
---------------------------------------- 
¶4. (U) Japan and the Asian Development Bank also have large 
technical assistance programs focused on ASEAN.  Japan has allocated 
$70 million to a trust fund for ASEAN development assistance and has 
a $52 million program to promote the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive 
Economic Partnership.  In addition, Japan maintains a stockpile of 
500,000 courses of the antibiotic Tamiflu for ASEAN member countries 
in the event of an outbreak of Avian Influenza.  In an effort to 
support the East Asia Summit (EAS), Japan has also set aside ten 
billion yen ($94 million) to sponsor a virtual think tank for 
economic research in East Asia.  A Japanese national manages the 
institute, which consists of a network of think tanks from EAS 
member countries, from the ASEAN Secretariat.  The ADB has also 
announced plans to increase its focus on the ASEAN region. 
According to senior officials at the ADB, the bank has a long-term 
goal of spending 30 percent of its budget on regional or 
sub-regional activities in Southeast Asia. 
 
ASEAN Secretariat Resources Strained 
------------------------------------ 
 
JAKARTA 00001830  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) The ASEAN Secretariat is facing capacity constraints given 
the increased scope of work associated with creating the ASEAN 
Economic Community by 2015 and the increased size and complexity of 
ASEAN's projects, according to Lim Chze Cheen of the Bureau for 
Economic Integration and Finance.  The ASEAN Secretariat's annual 
budget from its own members is $10 million ($1 million from each 
member state).  [Note:  ASEAN has repeatedly rejected the idea of 
increasing the contribution level for more affluent member states. 
End note.]  While the ASEAN Secretariat will get some additional 
funding from member states following the ratification of the ASEAN 
Charter, Mr. Lim does not expect the level to increase 
significantly.  Several ASEAN dialogue partners who participated in 
a European Commission workshop on trade-related assistance in 
Jakarta noted that donor assistance to ASEAN is now several times 
the size of ASEAN Secretariat's own budget.  Participants at the EU 
forum also underscored the need for the ASEAN Secretariat to 
increase its capacity to manage and coordinate donor activities 
given the growing size and scope of dialogue partner assistance. 
 
HUME