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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000963 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2019 
TAGS: AS EAID EFIN PK
SUBJECT: AID TO PAKISTAN ON SCHEDULE 
 
REF: SECSTATE 108183 
 
Classified By: Political and Econcomic Counselor Edgard Kagan for reaso 
ns 1.4 (b)(d) 
 
¶1.  (C/NF) SUMMARY: At the Tokyo Donor's Conference Australia 
announced the doubling of its aid to Pakistan.  A significant 
portion of the promised aid has already been dispersed. 
Australia is on pace to fulfill its obligation by 2011, but 
has declined to provide budget support to Pakistan's 
government.  Like Australia's military mission in 
Afghanistan, aid programs in Pakistan are targeted in 
specific geographic and subject areas.  This appears to be 
the government's preferred model for international 
development assistance.   END SUMMARY. 
 
Aid Doubled in Tokyo 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) During the Tokyo Donors' Conference, Australia 
doubled its commitment for 2009-10 and 2010-11 to a total of 
$111 million ($120 million Australian).  The increase is 
driven by investments in programs focusing on maternal, 
newborn, and child health along with primary education. 
Prior to the conference, Australia had already committed 
approximately $27 million in aid to Pakistan for this fiscal 
year.  Pakistan Section Director Jane Lambert of the 
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stressed that the 
additional spending announced in Tokyo is entirely new, and 
indicated that she believes other countries may have simply 
"rebadged" existing aid programs.  The $111 million figure 
represents the entire Australian aid program to Pakistan. 
 
¶3.  (C) The boundaries of Australia's aid programs are very 
well defined.  Geographically, Australian aid to Pakistan is 
focused on Balochistan, a province on the Afghan border. 
Australian aid throughout the rest of the country is limited 
to a few specific sectors.  The largest aid efforts have 
focused on primary education, agriculture, and prenatal and 
early childhood health.  This follows the pattern set by the 
Australian military in Afghanistan, where Afghanistan's 
military force is almost entirely committed to missions in 
one province.  Lambert says that this is by design. 
Australia has chosen to focus aid efforts on areas where it 
sees a need and believes it can make a measurable difference. 
 
 
Dispersal On Track 
------------------ 
 
¶4.  (C/NF) Australia is on track to meet all of its 
obligations to Pakistan by June 2011 (the end of the 
Australian fiscal year) according to Australian Agency for 
International Development's (AusAID) Pakistan Country 
Director Nadira Mailewa.  Of the $54 million pledged for 
2009-10 at the Tokyo Donors Conference, nearly all has 
already been disbursed or committed to a specific program. 
Qalready been disbursed or committed to a specific program. 
According to Lambert, a significant portion of the money for 
2010-11 has already been committed as well.  Under the 
Australian system, money for foreign aid must be assigned to 
a specific project well in advance.  While Lambert says this 
means that Pakistan can be confident in the timely dispersal 
of Australian aid, she also believes it hinders the aid 
program's flexibility at times. 
 
No Direct Aid To Pakistani Government 
------------------------------------- 
 
CANBERRA 00000963  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C/NF) None of Australia's aid to Pakistan is given 
directly to the Pakistani government.  Lambert noted that the 
non-paper (reftel) urged countries to disburse their pledges 
for direct budget support to the Pakistani Government, but 
Australia has made no such pledges.  The full $111 million 
pledged was for programs run either through international 
organizations, NGOs or in a few cases directly by AusAID. 
 
¶6.  (C/NF) Lambert realizes that Pakistan would prefer that 
money be given to the government, but said Australia is 
unwilling to do so.  AusAID's Mailewa said that the decision 
was made not to donate directly to the government because 
Australia is not convinced that the Pakistani system has the 
capacity to absorb all of the money and distribute it 
properly.  She also said that mechanisms for monitoring and 
evaluation, required by Australian law, are in place with all 
existing programs, but would be impossible were the money 
given to the government directly.  Both Lambert and Mailewa 
emphasized that there had been close consultation with the 
Pakistani government while developing the aid program. 
 
Keep "Friends" Separate from Donors 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C/NF) Lambert worried that the Friends of a Democratic 
Pakistan (FODP), of which Australia is a founding member, was 
in danger of becoming a perpetual donor organization.   She 
stressed the need to keep the FODP delinked from donor 
activities like the Tokyo Donors' Conference.  However, she 
did believe that the FODP should play a greater role in donor 
coordination and tracking, noting that some countries like 
China and Saudi Arabia have given huge amounts of aid to 
Pakistan with virtually no international accounting of where 
the aid money went. 
 
A Pattern Emerging 
------------------ 
 
¶8.  (C/NF) COMMENT: Australia has strictly defined their role 
in Pakistan both geographically and by sector.  Given limited 
resources, Australia has chosen to be a major player within 
specific subjects and regions rather than have a more limited 
impact on a broader range of issues.   This strategy allows 
Australia to have a more tangible impact on Pakistan's 
development, making it easier to sell aid programs to the 
public and empowering the government.   The similarity of the 
civilian efforts in Pakistan to the military model in 
Afghanistan suggests that this specialization is emerging as 
a favored model for Australia's international involvement. 
END COMMENT. 
 
CLUNE