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Viewing cable 05KABUL5118, DUELING AFGAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
05KABUL5118 2005-12-17 14:01 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Kabul
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005118 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA/FO, SA/A 
TREASURY FOR PARAMESWARAN 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND 
CJTF-76 FOR POLAD, CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A 
COMMERCE FOR AADLER 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EFIN PREL EAID PGOV AF
SUBJECT: DUELING AFGAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) An ongoing battle between the AID-supported Afghan 
International Chamber of Commerce (AICC) and the GTZ- 
supported Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry is 
heating up with a proposed law that would effectively 
eliminate the AICC, dealing a significant blow to the 
development of an independent voice for the private sector 
in Afghanistan. The Mission wholeheartedly supports the 
AICC in this debate and is voicing strong opposition to 
this law, as well as any chamber reform initiative that 
would weaken the newly-established AICC or any other 
independent business association. End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------- 
A New Chamber for New Afghanistan 
--------------------------------- 
 
2.  (U) A national chamber of commerce has long existed in 
Afghanistan.  The Soviet-style Afghan Chamber of Commerce 
and Industry (ACCI) was established in the 1970s and, while 
it represents itself as an independent voice for the 
private sector, in reality it falls under the supervision 
of the Ministry of Commerce. ACCIs membership base 
consists largely of insolvent state-owned enterprises. 
 
3. (SBU) During the Soviet era, one of ACCIs principle 
responsibilities involved valuing goods imported into 
Afghanistan, a value used by Customs to assess duties.  For 
r 
this service ACCI collected a hefty two percent fee.  On 
the recommendation of USAIDs customs advisor, this 
service was discontinued in 2002 because of ACCIs 
tendency to significantly undervalue imported goods to the 
benefit of its members.  Without this source of revenue, 
ACCI relies on a limited operating budget provided by the 
Ministry.  Though the ACCI has a presence in every province 
of the country, it is largely moribund. It is estimated to 
have over 300 employees on the payroll, who even Ministry 
representatives admit do essentially nothing.  The ACCI 
is also said to own over $1.5 million in property across 
the country, though the organization has never been 
formally audited. 
 
4. (U) Frustrated by the Communist-era mentality and lack 
of initiative at the ACCI, several Afghan businessmen opted 
to create a new organization to support private investment 
based on the principals of a free market.  In 2004, the 
Afghan International Chamber of Commerce (AICC) was 
) was 
established as an independent voice for the private sector. 
The AICC represents over 2500 businesspeople through 
eighteen affiliated organizations, including the Afghan 
Builders Association, the Afghan Womens Business 
Federation and the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce, all 
of whose leaders sit on the AICC board. 
 
5. (U) The AICC provides its members with business 
development services and engages in public policy advocacy 
and investment and trade promotion.  In April 2004, USAID 
provided the Center International Private Enterprise 
(CIPE), an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 
National Endowment for Democracy core grantee, with USD 6 
million over three years to build the capacity and 
professionalism of the AICC and promote its sustainability. 
 
-------------------- 
The German Approach 
-------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) While USAID has long felt that the ACCI should be 
SUBJECT: DUELING AGAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE 
dissolved, the German government, through its development 
partner GTZ, is funding a project to reform it.  The 
e 
project is providing the ACCI with capacity building 
training and has also created an ACCI Reform Commission to 
examine the structure and role of the Chamber, its 
relationship to other business organizations in Afghanistan 
and a new chamber law. 
 
7. (SBU) The Commission initially excluded the AICC, who 
secured participation for three members only through the 
intervention of Mahmood Karzai, Chairman of the Afghan 
American Chamber of Commerce and brother of President 
Karzai. In Commission discussions, the AICC has expressed 
its preference for an independent chamber, but has agreed 
to work with a separate, reformed ACCI should the 
Commission recommend it. Karzai submitted a concept paper 
detailing the potential functions of a reformed ACCI and 
its relationship with AICC, but recommended that any 
chamber should be a voluntary, non-governmental 
organization. 
 
8. (U) The Reform Commission initially recommended the 
merging of AICC and ACCI, without detailing how such a 
merger would take place. It has now tabled a business 
association law that will authorize a government-supported 
Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to become the 
exclusive business organization for the private sector. 
This law is modeled on German chamber law, which mandates a 
single, government-supported Chamber of Commerce which all 
businesses must be members of. 
 
------------------------ 
Legislative Implications 
------------------------ 
 
9. (U) The proposed law would establish the ACCI as 
Afghanistans single representative interest for 
businesses in Afghanistan. Participation would be 
mandatory.  It also gives the GOA the right to dissolve 
any other organizations that use the name Chamber of 
Commerce, such as the AICC. The draft also states that 
the Government may assign specific sovereign tasks to the 
Chamber. 
 
10. (SBU) The implications of this legislation are grave. 
At best, the AICC faces isolation; at worst, dissolution. 
The new Chamber, under whatever name, will essentially 
tially 
continue to function as the ACCI has in the past; as a 
mouthpiece for the government. 
 
--------------------------- 
Symptoms of a Larger Debate 
--------------------------- 
 
11. (SBU) The debate on the chamber law speaks to 
differences between the U.S. and German economic 
development strategies in Afghanistan.  It also illustrates 
what is increasingly perceived by the business community as 
a sharp dichotomy in the rhetoric of the Ministry of 
Commerce and facts on the ground. Commerce Minister 
Arsalas interest in reviving a GoA-controlled ACCI 
reflects a worldview that government should play a strong 
and paternalistic role in guiding the growth of 
Afghanistans nascent private sector.  It also demonstrates 
the ongoing debate within the senior GoA bureaucracy on the 
merits of a German-style model of close coordination 
between private sector and government verses the U.S. arms- 
length model.  (Note: The German government is also funding 
the Afghan Investment Support Agency, a MoC affiliate that 
t 
serves as a business promotion and investment licensing 
entity. End Note)  Arsalas preference for a malleable 
Chamber of Commerce more likely to toe the GoA line also 
relates to the increasingly vocal criticism leveled by the 
exuberantly independent AICC at the GoAs failure to 
consult with the private sector in a number of sensitive 
areas, including tax policy and the drafting of fundamental 
commercial and investment legislation. 
 
--------------------------- 
What Will We Do About This? 
--------------------------- 
 
12. (SBU) Mission policy is to promote a private, non- 
government affiliated Chamber of Commerce that is governed 
by elected leadership and has a voluntary membership.  We 
will not support any proposed legislation that would 
position ACCI as a state-controlled chamber of commerce and 
prevent the establishment of any other chamber of commerce. 
Mission members have been outspoken of this policy, in 
meetings with the Ministry of Commerce, GTZ, and other 
r 
donors such as UNDP, who, at the Ministrys behest, are 
beginning to channel funding for various projects through 
the ACCI. We will continue to press this with these 
partners. 
 
13. (SBU) As the new Parliament sits on December 19, it is 
unlikely that the proposed chamber law will be passed by 
decree.  It will instead face the uncharted territory of a 
new and likely contentious legislative process.  Post will 
monitor this initiative and engage when and where 
appropriate to express our concerns.  Post will also 
encourage both Ministry of Commerce officials and the AICC 
to build a productive relationship that will better support 
private sector growth in Afghanistan. 
 
NEUMANN