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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 000191 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID ECON PK
SUBJECT: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON FRIENDS OF PAKISTAN 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  Planning for the Friends of a Democratic 
Pakistan is moving forward, albeit slowly.  On January 27, 
Jean Arnault negotiated with the MFA a draft framework for 
his future participation as a UN advisor to the Friends under 
UNDP auspices.  Ambassador met separately with Arnault to 
urge him to take on a much-needed role as coordinator for 
donor assistance; Arnault said he was ready to move to 
Islamabad full time to work on Friends coordination.  The GOP 
has narrowed down a list of potential additional members of 
the Friends' group, but MFA has asked for U.S. and UK 
concurrence on inviting Russia to join.  Arnault believes the 
optics of excluding one UN Permrep member are not ideal. 
UNSYG Moon will visit Islamabad February 4.  MFA will 
continue to coordinate between the GOP and Friends, and 
General Secretary to the President Salman Farouqi will be 
coordinating internal GOP preparations.  Farouqi confirmed 
the action plan Chaudhry sketched out to A/DCM, which 
includes GOP outreach to the World Bank on the proposed 
Border Trust Fund, an early February meeting with Friends' 
Ambassadors in Islamabad, experts' meetings February 20-21, 
and a high officials' meeting (time and place TBD) to tee up 
a proposed ministerial in Tokyo later in March.  Embassy will 
meet with other Friends' members January 30 to compare notes 
and reactions to the GOP's plans.  End Summary 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Ambassador and A/DCM met with Jean Arnault January 
¶25.  He previewed his proposals for working as a UN advisor 
through the auspices of the UNDP offices in Islamabad and 
said he was ready to move to Islamabad full time to support 
the Friends effort.  Ambassador stressed the dire need for 
broader donor cooperation, and Arnault took that on board, 
saying he could begin to work with Friends and potentially 
expand his advisory role.  He will meet with ISI DG Pasha and 
hopefully Chief of Army Staff Kayani (Arnault has a number of 
friends in the Pakistani military who have served in UN 
peacekeeping missions), as well as with the MFA, Salman 
Farouqi, and other Friends' Ambassadors. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  In meetings January 14 and 16, MFA Additional 
Secretary for South Asia Aizaz Chaudhry outlined the GOP's 
action plan: 
 
January TBD 
Economic Affairs Division to contact World Bank to discuss 
its support for a Border Trust Fund.  Aizaz was unclear if 
this actually had been done or was in process. 
 
January 23 
Jean Arnault arrives in Islamabad to discuss modalities of UN 
coordination. 
 
January 29 
Internal GOP meetings to review the project proposals from 
the different ministries for presentation at the experts' 
group meetings.  FM Qureshi would chair the meeting and the 
Ministers of Finance and Interior and the deputy Chairman of 
the Planning Commission would also be invited.  The GOP will 
also review the issue of expanded membership.  Aizaz plans to 
circulate a proposed list of new members quietly to Friends' 
member countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE and China to ensure 
everyone is on board.  The latest thinking is that the 
Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, South Korea, and Malaysia be 
invited.  Chaudhry asked for our views on including Russia, 
although noting that there had been no contact with Russia as 
 
ISLAMABAD 00000191  002 OF 003 
 
 
yet.  Jean Arnault strongly supported including Russia as it 
would be preferable not to exclude just one UN Permrep 
country.  (Note:  Arnault told the Ambassador privately that 
he had reached out in New York to both Russia and India; 
neither wanted to contribute but both supported a UN advisory 
role in Friends. End Note)  Chaudhry said that Iranian 
membership was no longer under consideration for the time 
being.  The GOP will also discuss how to frame its public 
diplomacy message, as well as how to differentiate the 
Friends from the Donors. 
 
February 7 
Meeting with current Friends' Ambassadors in Islamabad to 
provide copies of the experts' presentations for circulation. 
At this point GOP would announce which countries they would 
extend invitations to beyond the core group. 
 
February 20-21 
Experts' Meetings in Islamabad 
Chaudhry envisions that, in addition to reviewing the 
projects, the experts would provide policy suggestions for 
the High Officials. 
 
March, first week 
High Officials' meeting, place TBD but probably Islamabad, to 
prepare for the Ministerial.  Chaudhry was unsure whether it 
might be best to have this meeting immediately before the 
Ministerial in the same location.  He noted that Pakistan 
planned to send the FM to the Friends' meeting and the 
Finance Advisor to the Donors' Conference. 
 
March TBD 
Ministerial in Tokyo (TBC) after the Donors' Conference. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The U.S. and UK both urged that the experts' 
presentations be prioritized and not just a wish list of 
uncompleted projects.  Chaudhry said he had received the same 
advice from the Japanese and Saudis. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  In Ambassador's meeting with the Makhdoom 
Shahab-ud-Din, Chairman of the Planning Commission, on 
January 16, Acting Secretary Jawaid Akhtar mentioned that one 
project the GOP was focusing on was "skill development of the 
masses", i.e., vocational education targeting unemployed 
youth which would start as a pilot project in the Punjab, and 
eventually reach 200,000 young people throughout the country. 
(Note:  this proposal has a definite link to security issues, 
and, as such, is an improvement over the list of 
infrastructure projects presented at the November 18 Friends' 
meeting in Abu Dhabi. End Note) 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Also on January 16, UK Foreign Secretary Miliband 
met with Salmon Farouqi, the General Secretary for President 
Zardari.   Farouqi confirmed the plan outlined by Chaudhry 
and said he would send a senior official to the World Bank in 
Washington to press the idea of a Trust Fund.  It remains 
unclear if the Fund will cover all of Pakistan, the border 
area, or just the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Comment: The GOP is clearly struggling to play the 
leading role in the Friends' group.  The MFA has not 
relinquished control of the process to the President's 
office, but is moving ahead cautiously, even with fairly 
straightforward items such as new members and role of the UN, 
 
ISLAMABAD 00000191  003 OF 003 
 
 
issues where it was given fairly wide leeway in Abu Dhabi. 
The prospect of a Donors' Conference at the same time as the 
Friends' Ministerial remains a source of confusion, 
especially as many donors have expressed interest in 
contributing to projects (which is the Friends' focus) rather 
than straight budgetary support.  Embassy plans to convene a 
meeting of the current Friends (minus Pakistan) on January 30 
to go over their countries' plans and expectations prior to 
the February 7 meeting of the Friends' Ambassadors. 
PATTERSON