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### Viewing cable 10STATE16421, MEETING OF THE FOOD AID COMMITTEE, FEBRUARY

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
10STATE16421 | 2010-02-23 16:04 | 2011-05-02 00:12 | UNCLASSIFIED | Secretary of State

`

    VZCZCXRO1125
    PP RUEHIK
    DE RUEHC #6421/01 0541650
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    P 231647Z FEB 10
    FM SECSTATE WASHDC
    TO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
    RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN PRIORITY 7493
    RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 6542
    RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0207
    RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1508
    RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2415
    RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 016421

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: EAID EC ETRD
    SUBJECT: MEETING OF THE FOOD AID COMMITTEE, FEBRUARY
    15-16, 2010

    REF: STATE 130895

    STATE 00016421  001.2 OF 003

    ¶1. (U) SUMMARY.  The Food Aid Committee held an
    "extraordinary meeting" in London February 15-16 to continue
    discussions on the future of the 1999 Food Aid Convention.
    Members discussed their vision of a convention as well as its
    key objectives, the convention's place in the global food
    security architecture, the role and nature of commitments
    under a convention, and the role of the Food Aid Committee.
    The committee agreed to establish a working group as a basis
    for continuing dialogue in order to make the convention a
    more effective instrument.  (However, it remains unsettled
    whether this would be accomplished through negotiation or
    amending the current convention. No decision has been reach
    to renegotiate the current convention.) The working group
    will begin its work by March 15 and will finalize its written
    report covering the major components of a convention by May
    ¶14.  Members will again meet in London April 15-16 to
    facilitate the process to improve the convention.  The
    working group will report back to the Food Aid Committee in
    June.  The European Commission continues to exert significant
    pressure on the process arguing that the EC may vote against
    extending the 1999 Convention at the June meetings unless
    clear progress is being made, i.e., members can signal a
    willingness to formally renegotiate the Convention.  While
    demonstrating a clear willingness to continue this
    exploratory process, other members including the United
    States continue to insist that they will not agree to
    negotiations unless and until there is a shared vision for a
    new and decidedly better convention. END SUMMARY.

    ¶2. (U) At an extraordinary meeting of the Food Aid Committee,
    members discussed in detail their respective "vision
    statements" for a food aid convention.  They began by
    discussing their vision of a convention as well as its key
    objectives.  Members broadly agreed that activities under a
    convention should broadly contribute to the macro objectives
    of reducing hunger, poverty and food insecurity.  Moreover,
    members agreed that the specific focus under the convention
    should relate primarily to improving food access and food
    consumption by vulnerable groups.  In that regard, members
    agreed that the focus on improving access to food would
    complement other necessary efforts to improve overall food
    availability in food insecure countries, especially those
    based on the food security statement issued at the  L'Aquila
    Summit in July 2009.  Members further agreed that the
    Convention should help them ensure that appropriate,
    effective, and nutritious food is available in response to
    the food needs of vulnerable populations that arise in
    natural disasters and in other food crisis situations.
    Members also shared the view that FAC could play an important
    role in helping members receive adequate credit for the
    resources that they provide to meet food needs.

    ¶3. (U) Several members, led by the EC, argued in favor of
    broadening the tool kit available under the convention from
    food aid to food assistance (including not only food
    commodities but also non-food mechanisms such as cash and
    vouchers, and livelihood supports).  However, Japan and
    Switzerland argued in favor of a narrower focus on food aid.
    In addition, Members agreed that all food aid/assistance
    provided should be linked to needs and that the provision of
    food aid/assistance under a convention should be informed by
    a set of guiding principles such as "do no harm."  Finally,
    members agreed that there was a shared view that members
    should engage more actively on coordination, cooperation and
    information sharing in the future, especially when food
    crises occur or are imminent.  That said, no clear "shared
    vision" of the rationale for a new convention emerged from
    the lengthy discussions other than the need to ensure that
    commitments reflect what members should do and are doing in
    response to situations in which vulnerable groups require
    food.

    ¶4. (U) In terms of where the convention (and its committee)
    fits into the global food security architecture, members
    value the committee as a donor's forum, independent of
    implementing agencies such as the World Food Program, that
    has important technical expertise.  Members agreed that it
    would be important to establish a link between the
    discussions in the FAC and other food security and
    humanitarian fora to avoid duplicating efforts.  Rather, they

    STATE 00016421  002.2 OF 003

    would wish to exploit the potential expertise of the FAC
    donor forum with a special focus on food access in
    humanitarian, transitional and fragile contexts.  The U.S.
    reiterated that the Convention is the only legally binding
    treaty governing the provision of food aid to the world's
    needy and that it ensures a predictable minimum level of food
    aid is available annually to help respond to natural and
    man-made emergencies and other needs-based food requirements.
     Members further agreed that other bodies are not
    sufficiently aware of the work undertaken by the FAC and that
    the FAC must do a better job integrating itself into the
    global food security architecture while remaining
    independent.

    ¶5. (U) Members struggled to find common ground with respect
    to the role and the nature of commitments, a core component
    of any convention, although there was agreement that resource
    commitments should be linked to needs to the extent
    practicable. The U.S. noted that commitments have
    historically been a means of collective burden-sharing and
    expressed an interest in discussing commitment approaches
    that would be more relevant to situations in which the food
    needs exceeded the ability of any individual member to
    respond. (Note: the U.S. used the example of the looming food
    needs of Niger and Chad to make this point.)  However, the
    focus of much of the discussion was more narrowly on
    individual member commitments.  Members mostly agreed on the
    shortcomings of the current FAC structure, particularly its
    narrow "tonnage of food" focus (although the U.S. has pointed
    out that expressing commitments in tonnage rather than
    monetary value provides some predictability by insulating
    these commitments from price volatility).  Members also
    agreed on the problem that the current commitments structure
    did not link commitments to need.  However, no common view
    emerged about the type of commitment that a new convention
    might contain or the legal standing of that commitment
    regime.

    ¶6. (U) COMMENT: Members clearly need to develop a shared
    vision on FAC commitments concerning their type, content and
    status (legally binding or political) if they are to move
    ahead to negotiate a new convention.  END COMMENT.

    ¶7. (U) Members expressed a willingness to explore the
    possibility of a flexible commitment structure in which all
    members would not have to make commitments in the same
    fashion, but could allow them the option to commit in tonnage
    terms, monetary terms, or in some other value.  Members,
    however, were unsure what such a hybrid approach would mean
    in practice.  Several donors, including the U.S. and Canada,
    suggested that it would be useful to have independent
    consultants consider the pros and cons of different types of
    commitment regimes.

    ¶8. (U) Members all agreed that the Food Aid Committee is not
    now living up to the pro-active role envisioned under the
    current convention.  However, they also agreed that the role
    of the committee depends ultimately on the content and the
    structure of a new Convention, making it difficult to discuss
    this issue in detail at this point.  Currently, members see
    three main roles for the committee: exchange of best
    practices/lessons learned-type information related to the
    provision of food aid/food assistance; ongoing provision of
    information through the FAC member website on situations
    requiring (or likely to require) food  aid/assistance and on
    responses made in those situations; and possible
    extraordinary meetings in response to particular on-going
    emergencies to facilitate discussion and coordination between
    donors and to highlight situations of developing crises.

    ¶9. (U) NEXT STEPS.  The Food Aid Committee agreed to
    establish a working group in order to continue work to make
    the convention a more effective instrument.  The working
    group will begin its work by March 15 and will finalize its
    written report on the major components of a convention by May
    ¶14.  The EC has promised to circulate to members on March 15
    a draft of elements of key articles (such as objectives and
    commitments) of a new convention.  Other members are expected
    to respond to this draft with suggestions of their own.  The
    report will be put forward without any prejudice to a
    position members may adopt in any formal negotiation of the
    Convention.  Members will meet again in London April 15-16 to
    facilitate the process.  The report of the working group will
    be discussed at the informal meeting of members June 2 and 3
    and then considered at the formal session of the Food Aid
    Committee on June 4.   On the basis of this report, the
    Committee will decide how to proceed and, if necessary,

    STATE 00016421  003.2 OF 003

    revise the terms of reference of the working group.

    ¶10. (U) The European Commission continues to exert
    significant pressure on the process.  As in December, it
    again made clear that it may vote against extending the 1999
    Convention at the June meetings unless clear progress is
    being made, i.e., members can signal a willingness to
    renegotiate the Convention.  (Unless members all agree to
    extend it at the June 4 formal meeting of the Food Aid
    Committee, the 1999 Convention is set to expire July 1.)
    However, the EC signaled it is now willing to accept
    something short of a specific start date for a formal
    renegotiation.  The Commission believes it can satisfy EU
    member states with a clear indication from FAC members that
    they are starting internal bureaucratic and/or legal
    processes towards either reconfiguring or formally
    renegotiating the FAC.  While the U.S. demonstrated a clear
    willingness to continue this exploratory process, like other
    members it continues to insist that they will not agree to
    negotiations unless and until there is a shared vision for a
    new and decidedly better convention.  Japan is particularly
    reluctant to agree to negotiations at this time.  The U.S.
    delegation again made clear that it will seek guidance from
    its senior leadership about whether to embark on negotiations
    and the guiding principles for a new convention if the
    leadership gives the green light only after a clear vision
    for a new convention emerges.
    CLINTON

`