- Angola seeks role with Trump’s Africa council; Patton Boggs renews China embassy contract; BGR founder Ed Rogers joins India lobbying team; Cyprus banks end lobbying; Pillsbury drops Kosovo lobbying; ex-Rep. Royce lobbies for Kenya embassy bombing victims
NEW FOREIGN LOBBYING FILINGS (FARA)
Africa
Angola: Angola is lobbying for a greater role with President Donald Trump‘s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. Ambassador Joaquim do Espirito Santo wrote a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Prosper Africa Executive Chairman Adam Boehler on Aug. 5 asking them to “seriously consider” inviting President Joao Lourenco as part of a proposed series of virtual meetings with “select influential African political leaders.” In the letter, President Lourenco also requests a meeting with Ross to discuss his economic reforms and his vision for a “new Angola.” On Aug. 7, Squire Patton Boggs forwarded the letter to senior international trade specialists Ashley Bubna and Giancarlo Cavallo at the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration.
Asia
China: Squire Patton Boggs has renewed its congressional lobbying contract with the Chinese Embassy in Washington for another year, from July 11, 2020 to July 10, 2021. The contract is for $55,000 per month. The lobbying team is led by partner Robert Kapla. Squire Patton Boggs has represented China since 2015.
China: The US representative office of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) received $523,000 from its home office in the six months through July. The office says it serves as a liaison between businesses, chambers of commerce, trade associations and organizations in China and in the United States “to facilitate bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation between the two countries, specializing in such fields as market information, patent and trademark application, intellectual property rights and business dispute settlement, as well as hosting trade and investment events and visiting trade missions.”
India: BGR Government Affairs founding partner Ed Rogers is now lobbying on the firm’s account with the Embassy of India. The firm last renewed its longtime contract with the embassy in April for $350,000 through September. A recent disclosure shows BGR promoted an Aug. 7 virtual meeting between Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to discuss trade and investment as well as cooperation in the fields of education and healthcare.
Marshall Islands: The local government of the Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands paid Van Scoyoc Associates $20,000 in fees and expenses in the first half of the year to counsel and advise the local government on bilateral relations and “US programs and initiatives.” During the period the firm communicated repeatedly with Joseph McDermott, the Marshall Islands desk officer at the Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs. The firm notably extended an invitation to Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Areas Douglas Domenech to address the Marshallese parliament later in the year.
Europe
Kosovo: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman terminated its lobbying for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo effective July 31. The ministry first hired the firm in September 2018 for €45,000 ($53,000) per month. Pillsbury partner Matthew Oresman had been the only registered agent on the account. The government of Kosovo still retains the services of the Global Strategic Advisory Group.
Middle East
Cyprus: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman terminated its lobbying for the Association of Cyprus Banks effective July 31. The industry association hired the firm for just over €425,000 ($500,000) in August 2019 for “advice and support with public policy and regulatory issues related to the Cypriot banking sector.” Pillsbury partner Matthew Oresman was the only registered agent on the account. (A separate registration under the Lobbying Disclosure Act indicates the association paid the firm $150,000 between the time of registration in April 2018 and its termination on Sept. 30, 2019).
Qatar: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman partner Joseph Jean stopped lobbying for the Embassy of Qatar effective July 31.
NEW DOMESTIC LOBBYING FILINGS (LDA)
Crowell & Moring has retained Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to lobby on behalf of victims of the 1998 Kenya embassy bombing. Former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, Republican of California, former Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson and Douglas Maguire are registered on the account.
EB Consulting stopped lobbying for the Quaker lobby Friends Committee on National Legislation on April 30. In the second quarter Elizabeth Beavers lobbied Congress on several bills including efforts to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq, the Afghan Womens Inclusion in Negotiations (WIN) Act, the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, the Ensuring a Durable Afghanistan Peace Act and the US-Africa Strategic Security Act. EB registered as a lobbyist for the committee in December 2019 and did not disclose payments above the $5,000 reporting threshold in any quarter.