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DE RUEHRN #0053/01 2441205
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FM USMISSION UN ROME
TO RUEHC/USAID WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0356
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0050
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0281
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1139
INFO RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0482
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 1213

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UN ROME 000053 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (ADDED ADDEE AND CAPTION) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR FAO PREL EAID UN WB
SUBJECT: FAO DG DIOUF'S VIEWS ON IMPLEMENTING L'AQUILA SUMMIT FOOD 
SECURITY DECLARATION 
 
REF: USUN ROME 09 and 41 
 
UN ROME 00000053  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.       (SBU)  Summary and Action Request.  FAO Director 
General (DG) Jacques Diouf told the Charge on August 28 that he 
was delighted with President Obama's strong leadership on food 
security at the L'Aquila Summit and wants to use the November 
World Food Summit to adopt the five L'Aquila principles at the 
global level by all 192 member countries. However, Diouf would 
like the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) to play the lead 
role in implementing the L'Aquila Summit although at this point 
he does not apparently have a clear plan for how to do so.  At 
this stage, Mission suggests countering Diouf's plans for CFS 
global governance by advocating instead having a reformed CFS 
with its universal membership serve as a forum for a number of 
developing countries to discuss their challenges, experiences 
and best practices at the national level.  Mission requests 
guidance (para 5) on how the CFS can best be used to promote the 
Global Partnership without playing a governing or coordinating 
role.  On other issues, Diouf was pleased the US and Italian 
Governments are sponsoring the September 14-15 L'Aquila 
implementation meeting in Washington, welcomed the USG 
contribution of $500,000 to the IPA Trust Fund, saying it sends 
a strong signal of U.S. commitment to FAO reform, and defended 
his draft budget proposal as a "no growth, maintenance" budget 
that only maintains purchasing power.  End Summary and Action 
Request 
 
 
 
¶2.       (SBU)  The recently-arrived Charge paid a courtesy call 
on DG Diouf on August 28 in preparation for a number of 
September meetings that will discuss the objectives of the 
November World Food Summit, the role of a reformed CFS and the 
FAO's 2010-11 Program of Work and Budget.   Diouf was very 
cordial and the meeting lasted almost 90 minutes as Diouf 
described at length his experience in promoting agricultural 
development since the 1996 World Food Summit. 
 
 
 
¶3.      (SBU)  Diouf lauded President's Obama's "strong 
leadership" at the L'Aquila Summit, saying he was "delighted" 
with the outcome, and was optimistic there will be significant 
progress over the next three years.  He stated that the 
principles in the L'Aquila Declaration need to serve as the 
blueprint for implementing the global strategy and the primary 
objective of the November World Food Summit would be to adopt 
L'Aquila's five principles at a global level.  Diouf agreed with 
the Charge on the need to develop country-led food security 
plans and, in this connection, said he was pleased the United 
States had taken the initiative with the Italians to call the 
September 14-15 Road from L'Aquila meeting in Washington, at 
which the FAO will be represented by the Assistant Director 
General for Technical Assistance, Jose Maria Sumpsi, and several 
of his directors with in-depth knowledge of projects.  Diouf 
characterized this as a "high-level delegation of experts" as 
requested in the invitation.  In response to the Charge's query 
as to his objectives for the November Summit, Diouf responded 
that the principal aim of the Summit is to adopt the L'Aquila 
principles at the global level since the Summit, with its 
universal participation, provides the best forum to 
"universalize" these principles. 
 
 
 
¶4.       (SBU)   Diouf also wants the Summit to approve the CFS 
as the new governance structure for the global food strategy on 
the grounds that only the FAO has the universal membership and 
country-level expertise and resources needed to effectively 
implement the L'Aquila principles.  He apparently has no clear 
plan yet for having the CFS play such a lead coordination role 
so we have the opportunity in the coming weeks to shape the best 
possible outcome for the CFS by proposing that the reformed CFS 
have no governance role but rather serve as a global forum to 
facilitate the multilateral aspect of the Global Partnership 
through productive country and sub-regional level discussion on 
how national plans can best promote agricultural development and 
investment.  At this stage, therefore, Mission suggests 
countering Diouf's plans for CFS global governance by advocating 
instead having a reformed CFS with its universal membership 
serve as a forum for a number of developing countries to discuss 
their challenges, experiences and best practices at the national 
level.  We need to ensure that the CFS does not become a "talk 
shop" at the global level with a few activist states, such as 
France and Brazil, dominating the conversation. 
 
 
 
 
UN ROME 00000053  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶5.      (SBU)  A number of other delegations, including Sweden 
(representing the EU presidency), Canada, Mexico, the UK and New 
Zealand told the Charge on August 31 that they want to identify 
a constructive role for the CFS that focuses on analysis, not 
governance, at the national level and draws on the considerable 
technical expertise of the FAO professional staff.  The 
departing British deputy permrep suggested the CFS could become 
a useful forum by having a sub-regional and national focus since 
the agricultural challenges vary greatly within a region such as 
sub-Saharan Africa and recommended that the existing regional 
groups in FAO select representatives from their sub-regions for 
CFS presentations, along the lines of the presentations being 
planned for the UNGA side event later this month.  Mission is 
sympathetic to these views.  ACTION REQUEST:  Mission requests 
guidance on how the CFS can best be used to promote the Global 
Partnership without playing the sort of global governing or 
coordinating role envisaged by Diouf.  We suggest that the 
mid-October CFS meeting could serve as useful follow-up to the 
UNGA event and set the stage for a successful Summit if the 
session provides a meaningful opportunity for developing 
countries to discuss their experiences and plans to achieve food 
security.  As the World Bank has chosen not to participate in 
CFS plenary sessions, we encourage Washington to urge World Bank 
participation to help shape a more realistic approach.  End 
Action Request. 
 
 
 
¶6.       (SBU)  On other issues, the Charge raised the U.S. 
$500,000 contribution to the IPA Trust Fund and stressed the 
USG's strong interest in continued reform in the organization to 
increase its effectiveness.  Diouf replied that he was very 
pleased with the contribution and said it sent a "strong signal" 
of U.S. support for reform, which he fully supports.  The Charge 
also raised the upcoming discussions on the budget and 
emphasized the need for a zero nominal growth budget that 
incorporates fully all the costs of implementing the IPA 
reforms.  Diouf responded by reiterating the same points that 
had made in his recent letter to Assistant Secretary Brimmer; 
e.g., he had proposed a "no growth, maintenance" budget that 
only maintains purchasing power and, at the request of member 
governments, had already folded half the cost of the IPA into 
the regular budget. 
 
 
 
¶7.       (SBU) Comment.  While we were pleased to hear Diouf's 
goal of using the November Summit to promote the L'Aquila 
principles on a global basis, we are concerned with his 
continued attempt to have the CFS play the lead role in L'Aquila 
implementation and, as noted above in para 5, seek guidance on 
how we can best transform the CFS into a global forum to advance 
the Global Partnership, build upon the UNGA event later this 
month and thereby set the stage for a successful Summit in 
November. We will provide recommendations in a separate message 
on the upcoming budget discussions. 
GLOVER