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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ROME 000409 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR MOPS NATO IT AF PK EAID
SUBJECT: G8 ASIA DIRECTORS MEETING ON AFGHANISTAN AND 
PAKISTAN, ROME, APRIL 6, 2009 
 
REF: A. STATE 32712 
     ¶B. ROME 388 
 
ROME 00000409  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Summary: SCA PDAS Patrick Moon and S/SRAP Adviser 
Neil Kromash represented the U.S. at an April 6 G8 Asia 
Directors' Meeting in Rome convened by Italy to craft an 
agenda for its G8 Ministerial Outreach Meeting on Afghanistan 
and Pakistan, which will take place on June 26 on the margins 
of the G8 Foreign Ministerial in Trieste (June 25-26).  All 
delegations agreed that the U.S. Afghan-Pakistan strategy and 
Iran's willingness to participate had given much needed 
impetus to the process.  The G8's primary value in the 
crowded field of Afghanistan-Pakistan initiatives is in 
raising the profile of the issue, endorsing promising 
initiatives like Canada's Dubai process, improving 
coordination and avoiding duplication.  All agreed on the 
importance of regional cooperation and of conferring a lead 
role on Afghanistan and Pakistan in any initiatives.  The 
U.S. and Japan called for strong pledges from G8 members at 
the April 17 Pakistan Donors' Meeting in Tokyo.  Iran, 
Turkey, Egypt, UAE, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and China have 
confirmed their attendance at the Ministerial; Uzbekistan, 
Saudi Arabia and India have yet to commit. The Italians plan 
to hold another G8 Asia Directors meeting to discuss a 
Trieste Ministerial Statement following the Regional Economic 
Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA) in Islamabad 
(May 13-14).  End Summary. 
 
¶3. (U) On April 6, Italian Special Envoy for Afghanistan and 
Pakistan Massimo Iannucci convened the meeting at the level 
of Asia Directors (Iannucci is dual-hatted as Director 
General for Asia), but most members were represented at a 
lower level.  Japan was represented by Middle East and Africa 
DG Toshiro Suzuki, UK by South Asia and Afghanistan Director 
Adam Thomson, Canada by Afghanistan Task Force Director 
Renetta Seimens, Russia by Second Asian Department Director 
Alexander Mariyasov, France by Afghanistan Desk Officer 
Laurent Legodec and Germany by the Embassy Political 
Counselor.  The European Commission was represented by Asia 
DG James Moran and the Council Secretariat by Tim Eestermans, 
Afghanistan-Pakistan Counselor to the EU High Representative. 
 
 
Trieste Agenda: Regional Dimension, Border Management, 
Trafficking, Trade and Transit 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4. (SBU) Iannucci presented the agenda as a stock-taking of 
recent international Afghan-Pakistan meetings and as a 
"brainstorming session" for the June 26 Trieste G8 
Ministerial Meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan.  He 
reiterated Italy's priority areas for the Trieste Conference: 
Border Management, Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering, 
Cross-Border Economic and Social Development, and Civil 
Society Development in the border regions.  All delegations 
concurred that the U.S. Afghan-Pakistan strategy and Iran's 
willingness to participate provides a much needed fresh 
approach and framework for international involvement in the 
region.  The UK said the proliferation of recent 
Afghan-Pakistan meetings (Moscow SCO Meeting, The Hague "Big 
 
ROME 00000409  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
Tent" Meeting, Munich Special Envoys Meeting and Abu Dhabi 
Friends of Pakistan Meeting), despite some duplication, was a 
positive development ("let the flowers bloom"), but said the 
challenge was to find where the G8 could add value.  All 
agreed that the G8 should have a role in endorsing and 
strengthening effective Afghanistan-Pakistan initiatives 
already underway, such as the Canada-led Dubai Process, and 
agreed that the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan need 
to be in a lead role in any initiatives. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  PDAS Moon presented the following U.S. proposals 
for the Trieste meeting agenda, all of which received a 
favorable response from members present: 
 
-- Transit Trade: Highlight the importance of bilateral 
transit trade and engage in a discussion on how to bring the 
two sides closer together, including the need for an updated 
Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade agreement, exploring the 
benefits of reduced trade barriers and areas where the G8 may 
be able to offer support (i.e., proposed U.S. Reconstruction 
Opportunity Zone Legislation, EU-Pakistan Trade Agreement, 
etc.); 
 
-- Border Management: Express G8 political and financial 
support for the Canada-led Dubai process, which aims to 
increase border cooperation in five priority areas (social 
and economic development, customs, immigration, law 
enforcement and counternarcotics); 
 
-- Jirgas: Express G8 political support for continuation of 
the cross-border jirga process that began with the August 
2007 "Peace Jirga" in Afghanistan and continued with the 2008 
"mini-jirga" in Pakistan; 
 
-- Cross-Border Projects: Agree to focus G8 attention and 
resources on several high-profile cross-border projects 
designed to improve bilateral relations, spur economic 
growth, create job opportunities and foster a growing 
perception among local inhabitants that development progress 
is taking place; 
 
-- Private Investment: Underline the diverse economic 
potential that exists along the entirety of the 
Afghan-Pakistan border (gems and minerals, hydropower, 
marble, etc.) and generate thoughts on local initiatives that 
the G8 can finance or otherwise promote even under difficult 
security conditions. 
 
G8 Endorsement for Best Afghanistan-Pakistan Initiatives 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6. (SBU) Canada outlined its recently-completed Action Plan 
for the Dubai Process and noted the positive participation of 
the U.S. Border Management Task Force at its March 28-29 
meeting in Dubai, where Pakistan tabled a draft Bilateral 
Customs Agreement for Afghanistan's consideration.  Members 
agreed that the Dubai process is making progress on concrete 
cross-border deliverables and merits increased increased G8 
political and financial support.  Canada also proposed a set 
of implementation guidelines for the G8 Coordination 
Arrangement agreed to at Kyoto in June 2008.  The group 
agreed in principle to adopt this as a framework for 
continued G8 coordination between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
Italy suggested inviting G8 Heads of Mission from Islamabad 
 
ROME 00000409  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
to the Kabul G8 HOM Coordination Arrangement meetings and 
vice versa, and inviting Afghan and Pakistani government 
representatives to these meetings.   The UK noted the success 
of the last U.S.-led Trilateral Meeting in Washington and 
urged support for future Trilaterals. 
 
¶7. (SBU) PDAS Moon congratulated Russia for the success of 
the SCO conference and suggested that the G8 could explore 
having member governments commit to improving strategic 
communications with their own publics so as to raise 
understanding of shared goals in the region.  Russia said 
that at the March 27 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) 
Conference on Afghanistan it had proposed a regional SCO 
Counter-Narcotics Center, training for up to 2000 Afghan 
Police Officers at the Federal Police Training Center in 
Domodedovo (which could be expanded to include Pakistani 
Police), and a series of expert-level CN and CT 
consultations, to which Afghanistan would be invited in the 
spirit of regional cooperation. The EC and U.S. suggested 
that the G8 could highlight the importance of concrete 
outcomes for the RECCA process, particularly if the May RECCA 
Meeting in Islamabad does not yield positive results. 
 
Iranian Participation Welcomed 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶8. (SBU) All members agreed that Iranian participation in the 
Moscow and Hague conferences (and its agreement to 
participate in the Trieste conference) was a positive 
development.  Italy noted that its command area in Western 
Afghanistan shares 600 km of border with Iran and that the 
Iranian presence is strong in Herat.  Russia and others cited 
Counternarcotics cooperation as a fruitful area for 
intensified cooperation with Iran.  S/E Iannucci said he 
would travel to Iran after Easter to discuss Iranian 
participation in Trieste. 
 
Regional Participation in Trieste Conference 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9. (SBU) Iran, Turkey, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, UAE 
and Egypt have officially agreed to attend the Trieste 
conference.  Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and India have not yet 
committed (India has said that it will decide after its 
elections take place).  Kyrgyzstan was not initially invited 
but has expressed an interest in attending. 
 
Trieste Way Ahead 
- - - - - - - - - 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Italians plan to hold another G8 Asia Directors 
meeting to discuss Trieste following the RECCA in Islamabad 
(May 13-14).  Before that meeting Italy will circulate a 
draft G8 Ministerial Conference Statement, and aims also to 
produce an "outreach" statement that will be adopted by the 
G8 together with Afghanistan and Pakistan and regional 
participants.  Although it is not yet clear how best to reach 
outreach consensus on the latter text, the plan is to meet at 
the level of Afghanistan and Pakistan Office Directors in 
Trieste on June 25 to finalize texts, followed by a tentative 
schedule of four successively larger meetings on June 26: (1) 
G8 Foreign Ministerial meeting on Afghanistan-Pakistan; (2) 
G8 Ministers plus Afghan and Pakistani FMs; (3) G8 plus 
Afghan and Pakistan FMs plus other FMs from the region; (4) 
 
ROME 00000409  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
an evening "outreach" event incorporating international 
organizations such as UNAMA, UNODC, UNHCR, OSCE, NATO, etc. 
(It is not yet clear how this schedule will mesh with the 
larger G8 Foreign Ministerial, which is scheduled to start 
the evening of June 25 and finish midway through June 26). 
 
Pakistan Donor Conference 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶11. (SBU) Both the U.S. and Japan took the opportunity to 
make a coordinated appeal for robust pledges at the April 17 
Pakistan Donors' Conference in Tokyo along the lines 
indicated in Ref A.  In informal conversations on the margins 
of the meeting, the EC indicated that it is ready to make a 
"significant pledge;" Russia is unlikely to make a 
significant pledge due to its weak economy, and France was 
not ready to indicate a commitment.  Italy will pledge 
between 30-40 million Euro in soft loans and is considering 
increasing that total to up to 20 million more (Ref B). 
Italy will focus its assistance on vocational training.  Some 
members underscored the need to differentiate the Friends of 
Pakistan process from the Donor Conference. 
 
Pull-Aside with S/E Ianucci, Interview with La Repubblica 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶12. (SBU) During a separate meeting with S/E Iannucci, PDAS 
Moon thanked him for Italy's announced contributions at the 
NATO Summit, including additional Election Support Forces, 
airlift and Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza police 
trainers.  Iannucci was pleased with the meetings he had had 
with S/SRAP Holbrooke the week before and hoped to visit 
Washington after the Tokyo Donors Conference.  After the 
meeting, PDAS Moon reiterated U.S. appreciation of Italian 
contributions in Afghanistan and G8 leadership on the 
Afghanistan-Pakistan front in an interview with Italian daily 
La Repubblica. 
 
¶13. (U) PDAS Moon has cleared on this cable. 
DIBBLE