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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000425 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/ERA, SCA, and INL/AP 
STATE PASS TO NSC KVIEN 
STATE PASS TO USTR JMURPHY, CWILSON, MDELANEY, CDEANGELIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ECON EINV EFIN ETRD ELAB PGOV OPIC BE AF
SUBJECT: Experts Meeting on Regional Economic Cooperation on 
Afghanistan (Corrected Version) 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The European Commission hosted a meeting of 
experts March 17 in Brussels to develop tangible areas for regional 
projects centered on Afghanistan ahead of the Regional Economic 
Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECC), to be held in 
Islamabad, perhaps in May.  Experts represented the countries from a 
region extending from India to Turkey, plus EU member states, the 
G8, major development banks and the UN.  Iran was also invited (with 
the EU paying for travel) but did not attend.  The discussion was 
focused on finding areas where regional countries might find common 
ground on joint projects to encourage Afghan and regional economic 
growth.  The conversations were substantive and identified areas for 
continued work, but only a few concrete projects, mostly already in 
train, were discussed.  END SUMMARY 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) At an informal Ministerial meeting in Paris December, 2008, 
the European Commission offered to host experts to prepare concrete 
proposals for a 3rd Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on 
Afghanistan to be held in Pakistan.  This Conference had been 
scheduled for April 1-2 in Islamabad, but the scheduling of a March 
31 Ministerial on Afghanistan in The Hague, along with the April 2 
meeting of the G20 and the NATO Summit April 3-4 made that date 
problematic.  The Pakistani government hopes to finalize a new date 
for the conference soon, with the Pakistanis proposing mid-May dates 
to the Afghans.  The latter pressed to maintain the meeting in 
April, given the political calendar in Afghanistan.  Nonetheless, 
the March 17 Experts' Meeting proceeded pursuant to EU invitation. 
The USG delegation was led by SCA PDAS Patrick Moon. 
 
Atmospherics 
------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Central Asian presence was relatively robust, with 
Brussels-based diplomats sitting in the Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and 
Kyrgyzstan chairs, but capitals sending Kazakhstan and Tajikistan 
reps.  Economic Affairs Director General Enayatullah Nabiel from the 
Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Joint Economic Affairs 
Division Secretary Sohail Rehan from the Pakistani MFA led their 
respective delegations.  The Iran chair was empty, an absence 
Meeting Chair James Moran (Asia Director for Commission External 
Relations) attributed to a missed flight on the part of the putative 
Iranian rep. 
 
¶4. (SBU) At the opening of the meeting, World Bank and Commission 
speakers encouraged Afghan and Pakistani officials to work together 
to address the "soft underpinnings" of economic development, such as 
convergence in customs procedures, transportation regulations, and 
border concerns that will in turn build an infrastructure that will 
support "bolder" reconstruction projects.  Five working group 
sessions (trade and transit, people and skills, food security, 
infrastructure and energy, and drugs) then convened.  The outcomes 
of the working groups will be summarized in a letter from the 
Commissioner for External Affairs to the hosts of the Regional 
Conference with the proposed follow work.  Paragraphs 5 to 15 below 
present the oral summaries provided at the conclusion of the experts 
meeting and are expected to provide the grist for the EU letter. 
 
Trade and Transit 
----------------- 
 
¶5. (U) The Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Agreement (APTA) is a key 
building block for future trade and economic cooperation and 
regulatory convergence and the parties were encouraged by the 
experts to rapidly conclude APTA negotiations.  This agreement will 
be a useful model in the region and an international effort can and 
should seek to replicate the agreement with other neighbors.  In 
addition, the experts agreed that donors should design and support a 
project to develop cooperation and harmonization of regional 
trucking procedures, licensing, regulations, and standards. 
 
¶6. (U) Countries in the region should also ensure coordination and 
allocation of responsibilities among agencies operating at border 
points.  By providing national clarity on those responsibilities, 
they can also identify focal points for cross border coordination 
and facilitate sustained data exchange, dispute resolution, and 
sharing of best practices, possibly by revisiting a project to 
establish a customs academy with regional input.  Experts 
highlighted problems with transport of an Indian 250,000 metric ton 
wheat donation to Afghanistan and said it should be a test case of 
how the three countries can work together flexibly to overcome trade 
and transport obstacles.  They expressed hope that the transaction 
could be completed before the Regional Conference. 
 
 
BRUSSELS 00000425  002 OF 003 
 
 
Food Security 
------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Experts agreed on the need to target multiple sectors to 
lower the high rate of food insecurity among the Afghan population. 
Primarily, efforts should be directed at facilitating trade, 
increasing agricultural productivity, augmenting humanitarian 
assistance, expanding Afghan capacity to store food commodities, 
leveraging private sector activities, and improving animal and plant 
health.  Participants cited a number of examples from the region to 
expand upon including free trade zones along border and bridge 
passes on the Afghan/Tajikistan border; the South Asian Association 
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) regional food bank; and the 
Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral partnership. 
 
People and Skills 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Countries in the region need to forge a commitment to enhance 
and draw on local skills to provide vocational training and to fill 
gaps in trade and craft expertise.  Participants  recognized that 
the multiplicity of capacity development models pursued by various 
donors cried out for an effort to establish greater coherence and to 
focus planning efforts on achieving swift, acceptable, and 
recognizable impacts on the lives of Afghans. 
 
¶9. (U) Afghan DG Nabiel outlined a project to develop and draw on 
the capacity of returnees for job creation and economic development. 
 Experts expressed strong support for the project, and suggested it 
could be expanded beyond returnees to the general population. 
Nabiel agreed, but said any expansion of the proposal beyond its 
planned scope would necessitate additional funding.  Another 
existing project that participants agreed merited consideration at 
the RECC is the regional approach of the Aga Khan 
Foundation-sponsored University of Central Asia and its value as a 
model for the establishment of vocational schools throughout the 
region.  Related to vocational training, it was agreed an inventory 
of relevant training materials available in Dari and Pashtun would 
be useful. 
 
Infrastructure, Energy, and Water 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) Experts reported progress on developing the Central 
Asia-South Asia Electricity transmission system, and the four 
involved countries - Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and 
Pakistan - confirmed their interest and support.  The World Bank 
representative discussed efforts to refine the costs and size of the 
project in light of the available electricity surpluses for export 
and the reduced financial commitment of the Asian Development Bank 
(ADB), which was absent from the meeting. 
 
¶11. (U) Participants called attention to the opportunities for 
bilateral and multilateral donors to contribute to measures to 
address particular investment security risks and support of Afghan 
payments.  The Commission indicated it would work with the European 
Investment Bank (EIB) to determine whether it might participate in 
the funding and UNAMA suggested it would work with the ADB and other 
potential donors.  The World Bank expressed hope that a next round 
of commitments advancing the project would be finalized at the 
RECC. 
 
¶12. (U) A number of participants emphasized that stakeholders and 
international financial institutions should energize the 
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project at 
the RECC.  The $7.6 billion pipeline will provide natural gas to 
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, with construction expected to 
begin on the oft-delayed project in 2010.  Pakistan's Rehan 
reiterated that TAPI was "a very important project" to the 
Pakistanis.  The Turkmen representative did not comment on the 
project. 
 
¶13. (U) Afghanistan and Pakistan also agreed that the extension of 
the Pakistani railhead from Torkham to Jalalabad should be a 
priority.  UNAMA said it will work to further clarify the scope of 
this project and the possibility of initiating a feasibility study. 
 
¶14. (U) On water, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed it was not an 
appropriate topic for the pending RECC, although Afghanistan noted 
it had begun to look at the requirement for capacity development 
with select donors, such as the U.S.  UNAMA highlighted the need for 
any Afghan government approach to donors to be well-coordinated to 
avoid confusion. 
 
Drugs 
 
BRUSSELS 00000425  003 OF 003 
 
 
----- 
 
¶15. (U) Participants underlined the need to build law enforcement 
capacity in a regional context in order to improve operational 
cooperation and intelligence sharing.  The Good Performer Initiative 
to benefit poppy-free provinces should be extended to look at ways 
to stimulate integrated rural development.  Experts also agreed that 
action on key precursors should be taken through increased support 
of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Rainbow 
Strategy, including the TASCIT program for regional targeting and 
for its second phase of mobile teams with more targeted, intel-led 
operations. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) The experts meeting provided an opportunity to review 
efforts to spur regional cooperation and identify tangible projects. 
 While the discussions were substantive, they served largely to 
underline the status of ongoing efforts and the limited commitment 
to cooperation by regional countries.  There is reasonable potential 
that, having hosted this meeting, the European Commission will take 
more ownership in the effort.  The UN Assistance Mission in 
Afghanistan also recognizes that it needs to be more active as well. 
 More than two years after the Delhi Conference, with prospects for 
holding the 3rd conference in the near future uncertain, the EU 
meeting served a useful purpose in renewing focus on regional 
economic activity.  The effort to find a strong set of concrete, 
implementable projects that are visible to Afghans as signs of 
support and progress, however, remains pretty elusive. 
 
MURRAY