Iraq Donors Conference: GSL will send Paris

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001818 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, IO, NEA, INR/NESA NSC FOR E. MILLARD E.O. 12958: DECL: 10-20-13 TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID CE IZ SP UN SUBJECT: Iraq Donors Conference: GSL will send Paris envoy to Madrid and will announce gift of tea Refs: (A) Colombo 1809; (B) State 294287 (U) Classified by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead. Reasons 1.5 (b, d). ¶1. (SBU) Following up on the Ambassador's October 17 meeting with Foreign Minister Fernando regarding the upcoming Iraq Donors Conference, polchief spoke with Sarala Fernando, the MFA's Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs, on October 20. Fernando said Ananda Goonesekara, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France who is also accredited to Spain, would attend the Madrid conference. It was also possible that Ambassador Romesh Jayasinghe, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Belgium and to the European Union, would attend. Fernando added that Goonesekara would announce that Sri Lanka was providing 25 metric tons of tea as assistance to Iraq. ¶2. (C) Comment: Goonesekara, who before Paris served in a high-level position at the MFA, is one of Sri Lanka's most senior diplomats and is well-known to Mission. He is somewhat prone to NAM-, G-77-type thinking, but he is friendly enough to the U.S. Sri Lanka's gift of tea is symbolic of its desire to re- establish its position as a major exporter of this commodity to Iraq and is indicative of the GSL's desire to make a commitment -- even if small -- to Iraqi reconstruction. End Comment. ¶3. (U) Minimize considered. LUNSTEAD