VZCZCXRO6050
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0427 0492340
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 182340Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1772
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 000427 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON EINV ETRD PREL IZ
SUBJECT: Initial Meeting of Services and Technology Joint 
Coordination Committee 
 
REF: A)BAGHDAD 00297, B)BAGHDAD 00399 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) The Co-Chairs of the Services and Information Technology 
Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) agreed to launch the work of the 
Committee under the Strategic Framework Agreement.  In a meeting on 
February 14, Deputy Prime Minister Rafae al-Essawi and EMIN Wall, 
Coordinator for Economic Transition in Iraq (CETI), agreed to 
convene a full JCC meeting in mid-March, and to direct the working 
groups (WG) to meet in the meantime to inventory programs that are 
applicable to the objectives of the Strategic Framework Agreement 
(SFA), define their respective work plans and agree upon achievable 
near-term deliverable goals.  DPM Essawi stressed the practical 
importance of reconciling the language of the SFA to existing 
strategic visions within the ministries that comprise the six WGs. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
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DPM Essawi's Framework 
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¶2. (SBU)  DPM Essawi agreed to the Embassy's suggested six 
sub-committee level Working Group structure: Health; Agriculture; 
Transportation; Electricity and Essential Services; Information 
Technology; and Communications and Environment.  Essawi announced 
his preference to have the Government of Iraq ministries assigned to 
the Working Groups (WG) meet first to identify how SFA goals mesh 
with individual ministerial strategies and document reasonable 
deliverables and work plans.  DPM Essawi requested that the 
ministries complete their tasks by early March.  As a first step he 
urged each USG and Iraqi WG co-chairs to meet informally with their 
counterparts.  Co-Chairs agreed to meet before February 20 with an 
initial WG meeting by Feb 26.  The Co-Chairs agreed that both sides 
should review existing programs and projects that fit within SFA 
goals and adopt them into their respective SFA deliverables 
inventory. 
 
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Trade Delegation and the DEC 
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¶3. (SBU)  DPM Essawi expressed keen interest to engage with the new 
U.S. administration and raised again the prospect of leading a trade 
delegation to the U.S. in March (ref A).  EMIN informed him that 
Embassy Baghdad had endorsed the trade delegation idea, although 
March may not give the new administration time necessary to fill all 
the sub-cabinet posts by then.  DPM Essawi also asked that another 
Dialogue on Economic Cooperation (DEC) be convened as soon as 
practicable, suggesting April.  But EMIN again cautioned that the 
American side may not be fully organized within that time frame.  As 
an aside, the DPM said that he was holding the trade delegation out 
as an inducement to ministers to participate personally and 
enthusiastically in the work of the JCC.  (Note: DPM Barham Salih 
made a similar request, see ref B.) 
 
Butenis