VZCZCXRO0553
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #1221/01 1301138
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101138Z MAY 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2989
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001221 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAID PGOV PREL IZ KW
SUBJECT: ASSISTANCE COORDINATION: A GOI INSIDER PERSPECTIVE 
 
REF: 08KUWAIT 000841 
 
This cable is sensitive but unclassified; please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: Huda Malik, Director General of the 
International Cooperation Directorate, Ministry of Planning 
and Development Cooperation (MoPDC), told Econoff that she is 
crafting a plan to move donor assistance coordination 
responsibility out of the Ministry and under a higher-level 
coordinating body.  She expressed frustration at the lack of 
information about donor projects, noting that the USG has 
provided the most aid but the least information, and hopes to 
improve coordination with USAID in the future.  Malik 
recommended that the donor community "stop building things" 
and start providing more technical and capacity building 
assistance.  She laid the blame for delays in disbursement of 
pledged Kuwaiti aid at the GOI,s feet, but plans to visit 
Kuwait in June to move things forward.  Malik noted that the 
latest SIGIR report identified USD 4 billion in unallocated 
aid funds, and asked for further information. End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Econoff met with DG Huda Malik of the MoPDC's 
International Cooperation Directorate on April 28 to solicit 
GOI views on donor coordination.  Malik also serves as 
Executive Secretary of the Iraqi Strategic Review Board 
(ISRB), which is supposed to be the organization through 
which all donor assistance to Iraq is coordinated. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Malik said that significant problems remain in the 
coordination of donor assistance for Iraq.  She said that all 
donors have been lacking in their coordination efforts, but 
since the USG has given the most, our lack of coordination is 
most noticeable.  She said that, of all the USG funds 
committed to Iraq, only a small portion are represented in 
the MoPDC's Donor Assistance Database (DAD), and that the 
data are on contracts, not projects.  She said that she was 
very surprised to learn about some of the things we had 
funded when she read the latest SIGIR report.  She found a 
mention in the latest SIGIR report of USD 4 billion in 
unallocated assistance funds and asked us for further 
information.  She specifically asked how the GOI can have 
input or at least a dialogue about how this money can be 
utilized.  (Note: She did not have the report to which she 
was referring on hand, but she may be  referencing the USD 
3.9 billion in "Unobligated Major U.S. FuN=y>UQ5 
over the past year.  She asked that we help facilitate better 
coordination with USAID as it increasingly becomes the main 
conduit for USG aid. (Note: The USAID Tatweer project has 
been working closely with the International Cooperation 
Directorate for more than a year to strengthen its capacity 
to manage donor coordination.  USAID welcomes the 
Directorate's increased interest in assistance coordination 
and will also encourage other donors to coordinate more 
closely with the Directorate.  End Note.) 
 
 
BAGHDAD 00001221  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Finally, Malik shared some thoughts on the GOI,s 
inability to fully absorb the assistance pledged by Kuwait 
over the past few years.  She laid the blame for delays 
squarely on the GOI, and said that it stemmed from a lack of 
coordination and communication of the GOI,s needs with 
Kuwait.  She said that a visit to Kuwait was planned for this 
month but had to be postponed because of scheduling.  She 
hoped that the delegation, made up of herself, MoPDC Advisor 
Dr. Faik Abdul-Rasool, and MoPDC Deputy Minister Dr. Sami 
Mati Polous, would travel to Kuwait in June for talks with 
the Kuwait Fund.  Malik,s understanding of the Kuwaiti aid 
pledged to Iraq is as follows: 
 
-- An initial $60 million grant, mostly for education 
projects and a small amount in water projects.  This money 
has been committed and projects are in the planning stages or 
ongoing. 
 
-- A second $60 million grant, which was reduced to $50 
million (she was unsure why), but that has not been utilized 
at all because of lack of communication of needs by the GOI. 
 
-- A soft loan of $440 million that has also not been 
released.  She said that the GOI has previously indicated 
sector allocation preferences for this loan, but may need to 
reallocate based on updated priorities.  She said that she 
believes there are certain conditions attached to this loan, 
such as the use of Kuwaiti companies in projects. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment: Malik's understanding of the status of the 
Kuwait assistance package is close but does not  completely 
match the details provided by the Kuwait Fund in reftel, 
further highlighting the lack of coordination on  the GOI 
side.  Malik,s complaints about the lack of effective 
coordination on USG projects are not new.  She is correct in 
that, while we generally have close coordination with the 
Iraqi entities directly involved in a specific project, we 
have not been active participants in the MoPDC-led 
coordination efforts.  Her recognition that the existing 
mechanisms need to change and become more effective is a 
welcome sign; we intend to work with Malik and others on a 
better system that will meet GOI needs, donor requirements, 
and our mutual obligations under the Paris Declaration on Aid 
Effectiveness.  The current debate over reform of the 
International Compact with Iraq provides a framework for this 
discussion. End Comment. 
BUTENIS