Cablegate: (Sbu) Denmark: No Commitment On G8 L'aquila Summit

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RR RUEHRN
DE RUEHCP #0540 3341210
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301210Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5349
INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0557
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 9278
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 0020
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0741
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 2307
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 1541
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RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 9055
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 5993
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0473
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 0003

UNCLAS COPENHAGEN 000540

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EEB/TPP/ABT/ATP, IO/HS, EUR/NB, EUR/ERA, AF/C

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAID EAGR PREL DA RW
SUBJECT: (SBU) DENMARK: NO COMMITMENT ON G8 L'AQUILA SUMMIT
FOOD SECURITY INITIATIVE

REF: SECSTATE 120804

(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT FOR
INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.

1. (SBU) EconOff met with Niels Richter, Director of the
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Macroeconomic Policies
Division (which is responsible for development assistance and
G-8 cooperation) on November 27, to discuss the points in
reftel. Richter will be the primary Danish point of contact
on all food security queries. According to Richter, Denmark
does not consider itself as a core member of the L'Aquila
Food Security Initiative as its participation in the L'Aquila
G8 Summit was due only to Danish PM Rasmussen's seeking
support for climate negotiations leading up to the
Denmark-hosted UNFCCC COP15 summit in December 2009.
Denmark, therefore, has not made and does not plan to make a
specific commitment under the L'Aquila Food Security
Initiative. The Danes are following the Initiative's
development with interest and welcome U.S. leadership on food
security. The Danes plan for their resident representative
to the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome to attend
the December 3-4 Rome meeting, but do not anticipate making
any participation pledges.

2. (SBU) To focus its limited development assistance
resources, Denmark has designated 15 priority countries. It
engages in food security assistance in those countries, but
always in coordination with other donor agencies active there
and with a growing focus on private sector development to
ease food delivery bottlenecks. Denmark may consider close
coordination with the Initiative in the future in countries
where it has on-going assistance missions. Because Rwanda is
not one of Denmark's priority countries, Richter said there
will be no Danish representatives at the December 7-8
meetings in Kigali. He said there is no possibility of new
Danish pledges for investment in Rwanda at present.
FULTON

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