VZCZCXRO5479
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHC #5495/01 1001433
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 101413Z APR 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 5361
INFO IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 035495 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL ECON EAID SCUL SOCI TSPL IZ
SUBJECT: JOINT COOPERATION COMMITTEE TERMS OF REFERENCE 
 
REF: STATE 5482 
 
¶1. (SBU) Washington agencies and Embassy Baghdad have 
completed the Terms of Reference for the four Joint 
Cooperation Committees charged with implementing the 
Strategic Framework Agreement. Final texts of each TOR (Law 
Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation, Economic and Energy 
Cooperation, Services and Information Technology Cooperation, 
and Cultural, Educational, and Scientific Cooperation) are 
found in paragraph 2 and following. Point of Contact for SFA 
and JCC issues in the Department is Rob Pyott in NEA/I/ECON 
(202-647-6027, pyott 'at' state.gov. The Department 
appreciates Embassy Baghdad's work in establishing the JCCs 
and related Working Groups. 
 
TOR: Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) JCC CONTRIBUTION TO THE U.S. STRATEGIC GOAL IN IRAQ: 
The Rule of Law is a foundation for attaining the US 
strategic goal in Iraq, namely, an Iraq that is sovereign, 
stable, and self-reliant. Put concisely, we seek an Iraq 
where all persons, institutions, and entities, public and 
private, including the state itself, are accountable to laws 
that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced, and 
independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with 
international human rights norms. We further seek an Iraq 
that is a full partner against common transnational criminal 
threats. As described by the Iraqi co-chair, the JCC will 
serve to forge a common goal and strategy to implement 
justice across Iraqi ministries and in cooperation with the 
United States. Its purpose is to share information and to 
elicit and coordinate concrete, information sharing, 
practical suggestions and proposals in support of this goal. 
 
¶3. (SBU) JCC OBJECTIVES: Section VIII of the Strategic 
Framework Agreement identifies three objectives for the JCC: 
(1) support the further integration and security of the Iraqi 
criminal justice system, including police, courts, and 
prisons; (2) exchange views and best practices related to 
judicial capacity building and training, including on 
continuing professional development for judges, judicial 
investigators, judicial security personnel, and court 
administrative staff; and (3) enhance law enforcement and 
judicial relationships to address corruption, and common 
transnational criminal threats, such as terrorism, 
trafficking in persons, organized crime, drugs, money 
laundering, smuggling of archeological artifacts, and cyber 
crime. The JCC endorses these objectives. Further, while the 
JCC,s scope may be interpreted broadly across the Rule of 
Law area, as reflected in the breadth of ministries 
participating, certain matters are entrusted exclusively to 
the committees established by the Security Agreement, such as 
the disposition of security detainees in coalition custody. 
 
¶4. (SBU) JCC "WAYS" (HOW THE OBJECTIVES ARE ACHIEVED): Each 
participating Iraqi ministry has been invited to form a 
committee or working group, with members drawn from all its 
relevant departments, to assess each ministry,s needs and to 
devise a strategy for SFA implementation. This includes the 
presentation of ideas and proposals at the JCC to both the 
United States and other Iraqi ministries. The United States 
is invited to work with these committees. The basis for these 
discussions will initially be the strategy documents prepared 
by six participating ministries and submitted to the United 
States on March 10. 
¶5. (SBU) We will prioritize engagements with the HJC, MOJ, 
and MOI. The Rule of Law Coordinator will oversee JCC 
engagements with the Higher Judicial Council. As these 
meetings occur, the relevant Embassy offices and agencies, 
including U.S. law enforcement agencies, will participate 
fully in developing proposals and SFA implementation plans in 
partnership with the GOI. In addition to those GOI committees 
already mentioned, the GOI will be requested to form an 
anti-corruption committee with whom the Embassy 
Anti-Corruption Coordinator can engage. Initially, we expect 
to work on a more ad hoc basis with those JCC subcommittees 
established by other ministries. 
 
6.(SBU) The JCC may also be used to raise issues that may 
arise in USG assistance programs, such as steps needed for 
timely activation of USG-funded prison construction projects, 
or identified in other Iraqi entities, such as, in the case 
of money laundering, the Central Bank of Iraq. The JCC will 
be a forum to troubleshoot issues that may arise. The JCC 
will also prepare periodic reports of progress. In each case, 
given declining U.S. resources, emphasis will be placed on 
 
STATE 00035495  002 OF 005 
 
 
identifying the greatest impediments to further progress in 
advancing the rule of law and devising solutions to address 
them. 
 
¶7. (SBU) JCC "MEANS" (RESOURCES APPLIED TO ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVES): The JCC itself will be a forum for U.S. 
representatives to encourage and facilitate action in high 
priority areas, as well as to identify specific issues/areas 
requiring higher level diplomatic attention. It is noteworthy 
that USG financial resources for Iraq will likely decline 
over the next several years but should continue to support 
our objective and the ways in which we work to achieve them. 
We should expect that Iraq assumes more financial control and 
responsibility for its programs. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The means include those USG financial resources, as 
appropriated by Congress, to support the GOI's Rule of Law 
efforts, as well as to support USG law enforcement efforts in 
the region. We expect foreign assistance to be focused 
primarily on continued advisory assistance in areas that may 
include strengthening the independent judiciary, including 
through judicial capacity-building and training, in both the 
civil and criminal areas; combating corruption; modernizing 
and integrating the criminal justice system (police, courts, 
and prisons); supporting legal prerequisites for economic 
development; enhancing the quality of the Iraqi bar; and 
promoting human rights. As a general matter, the GOI will be 
required to fund future infrastructure needs; furnishing, 
operations, and maintenance of facilities associated with 
these programs; GOI personnel costs, such as training and 
salaries; and associated equipment and material support. The 
GOI will increasingly need to adequately resource judicial, 
law enforcement and corrections programs to accomplish the 
JCC objectives. This is of particular importance in the 
corrections and judicial security areas. The focus of such 
efforts will be on technical assistance, rather than bricks 
and mortar projects, as it already has been during the first 
meetings of the JCC. 
 
¶9. (SBU) MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS: (1) The conditions set 
forth in the Joint Campaign Plan are attained. (2) The JCC 
meets regularly, effectively oversees and tracks progress 
against the three objectives specified in Section VIII of the 
SFA, and becomes a forum to generate broad GOI-USG consensus 
about priorities and initiatives in each area. (3) 
Impediments to future progress are discussed and strategies 
for addressing them are identified. (4) Ongoing USG 
assistance programs in the Rule of Law area are reviewed, 
accomplishments documented, problems identified, and future 
needs discussed. (5) Law enforcement cooperation is enhanced 
to combat common transnational criminal threats. 
 
¶10. (SBU) LEVEL OF IRAQI COORDINATION ON THIS TOR: The ToR 
set forth here are fully consistent with those plans and 
objectives discussed at the JCC meetings convened on February 
12 and March 10, 2009. The document itself has not been 
coordinated with the GOI. 
 
TOR: Economic and Energy Cooperation 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) JCC CONTRIBUTION TO THE U.S. STRATEGIC GOAL IN 
IRAQ: Help Iraq to build a stable, prosperous, 
market-oriented economy that provides services to its people 
and is integrated into the global economy. Iraq needs to 
sustain itself economically in order to build a stable 
democracy and be a significant ally. 
 
¶12. (SBU) JCC OBJECTIVES: The Energy and Economic committee 
supports agreed goals in Section V of the Strategic Framework 
Agreement by focusing on national policy and legal/regulatory 
issues in contrast to the Services and Information Technology 
JCC focused on the delivery of essential services. These 
include provision of basic services, private sector 
development and investment, trade promotion, integration into 
the international economic and financial community, improved 
agricultural sector and trade policies, supporting 
commitments under the International Compact with Iraq, and 
energy sector development including the rehabilitation of 
facilities and infrastructure. The committee will work to 
advance development of Iraq's oil and gas resources, with a 
view to ensuring the GOI has the capacity to fund its own 
development. 
 
¶13. (SBU) JCC "WAYS" (HOW THE OBJECTIVES ARE ACHIEVED): The 
JCC will meet quarterly to assess progress and set goals. 
Sub-Committee level Working Groups will meet to coordinate 
efforts to achieve agreed goals. The U.S.-Iraq Dialogue on 
Economic Cooperation will continue to meet yearly and will be 
a focus for both the Energy and Economic JCC and the Services 
and Information Technology JCC. Trade fairs, trade missions, 
 
STATE 00035495  003 OF 005 
 
 
matchmaking, and other activities will be used to promote 
private sector cooperation. Pending Iraqi legislative 
approval, a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) 
Council meeting will be held. Efforts under the JCC will be 
in step with the International Compact with Iraq and 
coordinated with the UN, World Bank and other donors to 
leverage USG inputs. The following Working Groups will 
facilitate detailed technical discussion and goals: 
 
1)    Financial Sector and Public Financial Management; 
2)    Trade and Investment; 
3)    Oil and Gas Sector; 
4)    Electricity Sector (investment and new facilities); 
5)    Industry and Private Sector Development. 
 
Suggested U.S. co-chairs for the working groups are: 
 
1)    Financial Sector and Public Financial Management: 
Treasury Attache 
2)    Trade and Investment: Economic Counselor 
3)    Oil and Gas Sector: Energy Attache 
4)    Electricity Sector: ITAO Energy Advisor 
5)    Industry and Private Sector Development: Economic 
Counselor 
 
¶14. (SBU) JCC "MEANS" (RESOURCES APPLIED TO ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVES): The USG will continue to support GOI capacity 
building efforts, support for trade and investment promotion, 
and ensure there is qualified civilian staffing in Baghdad to 
support these efforts. 
 
¶15. (SBU) MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS: Measures of 
Effectiveness will be applied at the Working Group technical 
level to show progress in the key goal areas as identified in 
Section V of the Strategic Framework Agreement. The Working 
Groups are best placed to determine specific measures of 
effectiveness during their initial meetings. 
 
TOR: Services and Information Technology Cooperation 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) JCC CONTRIBUTION TO THE U.S. STRATEGIC GOAL IN 
IRAQ: Committee Five will seek to strengthen the relationship 
between the democratic government of Iraq and its population 
in order to bolster its legitimacy, increase unity and 
stability while promoting sustainable development. It will 
seek to find ways to help boost the capacity of the Iraqi 
government to deliver essential and basic human services and 
to establish a legal and regulatory environment hospitable to 
private investment enabling the development of a robust and 
diverse national economy. 
 
¶17. (SBU) JCC OBJECTIVES: Committee Five encompasses goals in 
the SFA found in Sections VI - Health and Environment 
Cooperation and VII - Information Technology, as well as 
Section V - Energy and Economic Cooperation.  It will focus 
on preparing Iraq for integration into the relevant 
international institutions and standard setting bodies 
through efforts such as: building capacity in developing 
modern laws, regulatory frameworks, and rational tariff 
platforms; rekindling a culture of maintenance and 
sustainment; and ensuring that the GOI has the capacity to 
continue to fund its own development. 
 
¶18. (SBU) JCC "WAYS" (HOW THE OBJECTIVES ARE ACHIEVED): 
Several of these issues lend themselves to effective 
cooperation through working groups: We plan groups on 
Agriculture and Water; Transportation; Health and 
Environmental Cooperation; Information Technology and 
Communications; and Electricity and other Essential Services. 
We propose that the ministries under this rubric would be 
Health, Environment, Water Resources, Transportation, 
Agriculture, Communications, Municipalities and Public Works, 
and part of Electricity. Working Groups (WGs) would meet 
initially to set their agendas and then meet as necessary to 
advance the deliverables they have identified. They are 
further detailed below in Annex A. 
 
¶19. (SBU) JCC "MEANS" (RESOURCES APPLIED TO ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVES): Both officials and subject matter experts in 
Baghdad and the US will advance the work of these committees. 
U.S. officials will actively support GOI reform efforts, 
capacity development, and best practices in ongoing bilateral 
consultations. 
 
¶20. (SBU) MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS: These may include 
improved or increased delivery of essential services, 
increase in available electricity capacity, closing the gap 
between actual cost of utility and price charged consumers, 
increased number of citizens with access to potable water, 
increased number of citizens with access to primary health 
 
STATE 00035495  004 OF 005 
 
 
care, access to affordable food under an open market system 
that reduces the number of consumers on government subsidies. 
These measures should reflect adequate operational 
maintenance and sustainability. 
 
TOR - Educational, Cultural and Scientific Cooperation 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶21. (SBU) JCC CONTRIBUTION TO THE U.S. STRATEGIC GOAL IN 
IRAQ: Our goal is an enduring strategic partnership with a 
unified, democratic, federal Iraq that can govern, defend and 
sustain itself. 
 
¶22. (SBU) JCC OBJECTIVES: The objective of the JCC is to 
build the basis for an enduring partnership with the United 
States by creating a network of institutional relationships, 
exchanges, partnerships and capacity-building that will 
produce leaders and citizens who understand and practice 
tolerance, transparency and accountability in support of 
economic opportunity, respect for the rule of law and 
peaceful participatory politics. 
 
¶23. (SBU) JCC "WAYS" (HOW THE OBJECTIVES ARE ACHIEVED): The 
JCC will focus on promoting and encouraging collaboration and 
contacts between key Iraqi educational, cultural and 
scientific experts and institutions and their counterparts in 
the United States. Specific initiatives will include: 
 
--Promoting and facilitating educational partnerships by 
increasing cooperation between individual Iraqi and U.S. 
academics and universities, which may include faculty and 
student exchanges, joint research projects and curriculum 
development 
--Supporting participation of Iraqi agricultural 
professionals in USDA training programs to foster 
agricultural development and economic growth 
--Strengthening the Fulbright program by addressing 
challenges in the recruitment of qualified and diverse 
candidates and the high rates of non-return of Fulbright 
participants to Iraq 
--Supporting English language teacher training and 
instruction by facilitating access to English teaching 
resources and expertise; encouraging the expansion of English 
testing and training; promoting broader distribution of 
English language materials 
--Encouraging greater numbers of Iraqi students to study in 
the U.S. by facilitating access to information about the U.S. 
system of higher education in support of the Prime Minister's 
Iraqi Education Initiative and, ideally, reciprocal programs 
for U.S. students in Iraq. 
--Supporting the preservation of cultural heritage through 
institutional relationships and training between the Iraq 
National Museum and State Board of Antiquities and Heritage 
and U.S. counterparts, to include the Iraq Cultural Heritage 
Project (ICHP) announced by Ambassador Crocker and the ECA 
Assistant Secretary at the Iraq National Museum on October 
2008 
--Promoting professional and cultural exchanges by using the 
International Visitor Leadership Program and Citizen 
Exchanges' cultural and youth exchange programs to support 
Iraqi civil society 
--Assisting the Iraqi ministries, especially the Ministries 
of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, and 
Science and Technology, to further define their roles in, and 
increasing their contribution to, the Government of Iraq, 
Iraqi schools and universities, and its citizens 
--Supporting Iraqi efforts to develop the knowledge and 
skills of public and private sector scientists and engineers, 
including university professors and their students, so they 
are prepared as an innovative, 21st century workforce to best 
contribute to Iraq's economic redevelopment and prosperity 
--Encouraging Iraqi efforts in science and engineering 
research to help accelerate and sustain Iraq's economic 
development 
 
¶24. (SBU) JCC "MEANS" (RESOURCES APPLIED TO ACHIEVE THE 
OBJECTIVES): 
Existing U.S. cultural and education programs can address 
many of the TOR objectives. The U.S. will also 
 
--Provide technical support for drafting bilateral cultural, 
educational, and scientific exchange agreements 
--Streamline and facilitating issuance of student and 
professional visas 
--Seek support from the independent U.S. higher education 
sector and from U.S. science and engineering agencies, 
independent institutions such as the National Academies of 
Sciences and Engineering, and private-sector companies 
--Enhance educational advising resources 
--Increase access to English teaching resources 
--Provide technical support to sustain joint agricultural 
 
STATE 00035495  005 OF 005 
 
 
research, training and extension partnerships 
--Provide technical advice and training to increase, improve, 
and sustain Iraqi science and engineering research and 
education 
--Facilitate linkages between U.S. and Iraqi scientists and 
engineers (including Iraqi university professors and students) 
 
¶25. (SBU) MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS: 
--Iraqis studying in the U.S. We would like to see the 
current number of 300-400 significantly increase over several 
years. 
--Students studying English. We would like to see an increase 
in the number of high school-aged Iraqis studying English. 
--Iraqis receiving agricultural extension training. We would 
like to provide advanced training to agricultural extension 
educators. 
--Educational partnerships. We would like to see increased 
opportunities for interaction between Iraqi academics and 
institutions and their American counterparts in higher 
education, including faculty and student exchanges. 
--Bilateral agreements. We would like to see the 
establishment of a framework for educational and cultural 
cooperation. 
--Visas. We would like to see a streamlined professional and 
student visa approval process. 
--Iraqi funding and type of Iraqi research. We would like to 
see GOI funding and published Iraqi research double over the 
next several years. 
CLINTON