VZCZCXRO3166
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #2943 2670833
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240833Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1650
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC 0893
RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KABUL 002943 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS OPIC 
DEPT PASS TDA 
USTR FOR CHRIS DEANGELIS 
COMMERCE FOR DEES, CHOPPIN, AND FONOVICH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD EAGR EAID EINV AF
SUBJECT: Afghan Commerce Minister to Visit Washington (Oct. 4-9) 
 
¶1.  Please note action request in para 5. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Commerce Minister Wahidullah Shahrani plans to travel to 
Washington October 4 through 9.  He is looking to schedule meetings 
with top USG officials and members of Congress during his first two 
full days in Washington as well as around his participation in a 
private-sector conference on Central Asia (October 7), a Central 
Asian Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council 
meeting (October 8), which he will attend as an observer, and the 
Afghan-U.S. TIFA meeting (October 9).  The Minister returns to Kabul 
late October 9. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Minister Shahrani told emboffs September 23 that he has 
requested a meeting with SRAP Holbrooke and Commerce Secretary Locke 
through the Afghan Embassy's Commercial Attache.  Shahrani is 
interested in talking with SRAP Holbrooke about the 
Afghanistan/Pakistan transit trade agreement and also about the next 
U.S/Afghanistan/Pakistan trilateral meeting.  Minister Shahrani has 
also requested meetings with D/S Jacob Lew, whom he was not able to 
meet during the Deputy Secretary's visit earlier in September 
because of a ministerial meeting in Manila, to discuss the transit 
trade agreement. 
 
¶3.   (U) Minister Shahrani seeks meetings as well with USTR 
Ambassador Kirk and with OPIC Acting President Spinelli.  With Mr. 
Spinelli he looks to discuss investment opportunities in 
Afghanistan.  Shahrani noted he also plans to meet with World Bank 
officers in connection with the Bank's ongoing private sector 
development programs. 
 
¶4. (U) In addition, Shahrani seeks meetings with members of 
Congress, particularly to discuss the Reconstruction Opportunity 
Zones (ROZs).  Shahrani said his Embassy is arranging congressional 
meetings, including with Congressman Howard Coble (R-NC) and Nita 
Lowey (D-NY), whom he has previously met.  Shahrani, who is an 
articulate spokesman on Afghan trade and industry issues and who has 
been following closely the pending Reconstruction Opportunity Zone 
(ROZ) legislation, is interested in meeting with other members of 
Congress as well. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Shahrani is reformist, pro-growth, and pro-market. 
Washington agencies will find him an articulate interlocutor on 
Afghanistan's current economic situation, on transit and other 
regional trade issues, and on the commercial opportunities in the 
country.  Embassy recommends the appointments he seeks and would 
also encourage the Department work to arrange a broader spectrum of 
meetings with interested members of Congress. 
 
EIKENBERRY