Cablegate: Maldives Invites U.S. To Participate

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000510

SIPDIS

PASS LINESA/INS FOR J.BRENNIG/N.DEAN AND EB FOR A/S
WAYNE/HARTWICK; TREASURY FOR C.CARNES;
MANILA FOR USADB

E.O 12958:N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON MV
SUBJECT: MALDIVES INVITES U.S. TO PARTICIPATE
IN MANILA DONOR CONFERENCE

REF.: A. COLOMBO 409
B. COLOMBO 301

1. On March 9, 2005, Post received a Diplomatic Note
from the Republic of Maldives regarding the Maldive's
participation in the March 17, 2005 ADB- sponsored Donors'
Conference to be held in Manila, Philippines. The
following is the text of the Dipnote.

Begin text:

Reference: (F2) CIR/2005/14

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives presents
its compliments to the Embassy of the United States of
America to the Republic of Maldives and has the honour
to inform the Embassy that the Government of Maldives
has now, in conjunction with the World Bank, the Asian
Development Bank, and the United Nations, prepared a
needs-assessment report, and has embarked on a
reconstruction and rehabilitation programme following
the tsunamis of December 2004.

The Government of Maldives is thankful that the
response of the international community had been
extremely good during the emergency relief period, but
wishes to note that substantial additional financial
resources are needed for the restoration of services to
their pre-tsunami levels. In this context, the
Ministry has the honour to draw the attention of the
Embassy to a donors' meeting being organised organized
by the Government of Maldives and major financial
institutions, scheduled to convene at the ADB
headquarters in Manila, Philippines, on 17 March 2005,
at which the Government of Maldives hopes to receive
specific commitments to assist in its reconstruction
programme.

The Ministry has the subsequent honour to invite the
Government of the United States of America to
participate in the meeting. A copy of the agenda for
this meeting is attached herewith. The documents
forming the basis of discussion for this meeting, the
needs-assessment report titled (quote) Tsunami Impact
and Recovery (unquote), and the supplement titled
(quote) National Recovery and Reconstruction Plan -
Programmes and Projects (unquote) may be obtained from
the official website of the National Disaster
Managements Centere at www.tsunamimaldives.mv, and
hardcopies will be distributed at the meeting in
Manila. As the Government of Maldives also wishes to
provide the Government of the United States of America
with soft copies of the reports in pdf format, the
Ministry would be grateful if the Embassy could provide
it with an email address to which the documents may be
sent.

The Ministry looks forward to receiving the names and
designations of those who will be representing the
Government of the United States of America at the
meeting.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Maldives avails itself of this opportunity to renew to
the Embassy of the United States of America for the
Republic of Maldives the assurances of its highest
consideration.

Male, 09 March 2005

Embassy of the United States of America
Colombo

End Text.

2. Post would like to recommend USG participation in
this meeting and suggests USG participants try to
discuss Maldivian needs with Riluwan Shareef, Executive
Director, Ministry of Finance, Maldives who gives a
very impressive presentation as noted previously, and
highlighted during the recent visit to Maldives by
former U.S. Presidents Bush and Clinton. The Maldives
tsunami reconstruction effort is extremely impressive

SIPDIS
and worthy of strong U.S. support..

LUNSTEAD

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