Cablegate: Colombo Plan: Consensus On Constitutional
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
051058Z Apr 05
UNCLAS COLOMBO 000666
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/T, INL/C/CJ, IO/EX/OB, SA/INS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC PREL SNAR CE
SUBJECT: COLOMBO PLAN: CONSENSUS ON CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT ON ARREARS
REF: A. STATE 61611 AND PREVIOUS
B. 04 COLOMBO 1800
C. 04 STATE 210806
D. 04 COLOMBO 1412
1. This message is an Action Request -- Please see Para 4.
2. CONSENSUS ON ARREARS AMENDMENT: During the April 5
Colombo Plan Council meeting, poloff delivered points in Ref
A, which were received with thanks and appreciation by the
delegate from Thailand and the President and Secretary
General of the Colombo Plan. Other member countries also
expressed their approval of the USG's position to join
consensus on the proposed amendment on arrears. The Korean
delegate asked about the protocol for the amendment coming in
to force, to which the Secretary General replied that the
amendment can only be legally adopted during the biennial
Consultative Committee Meeting, next scheduled for 2006. In
the interim, the Secretary General stated, the Council can
recommend that the amendment be put into immediate practice
and call on the Secretariat to invite member countries to
participate in all training programs. The Council agreed to
the "immediate benefit" of the amendment and approved the
Secretary General's suggestion to enact its provisions.
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3. FIRST DIVIDEND: As if Mongolia knew that such an
amendment was inevitable, the Secretary General presented a
request by the Government of Mongolia -- which, per normal,
did not have a representative at the Council meeting -- to
establish a five-year repayment plan for its arrears. The
Secretary General further noted that the repayment time frame
SIPDIS
put forth by Mongolia was less than both the USG's 10-year
option and the new amendment's 7-year limit. The Council
agreed to Mongolia's request for a repayment plan.
4. ACTION REQUEST: Mission notes, per Refs B-D, that the
USG has not yet paid Colombo Plan dues for FY2005 (Year
2004/2005, in Colombo Plan parlance) and requests that a fund
cite be cabled as soon as possible.
LUNSTEAD