FY 05 IV PROGRAM: SRI LANKAN NOMINEE FOR MPR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000839 SIPDIS STATE FOR ECA/PE/V/M MARGERY BENSON/AZZA MOUNIB-ZAKI STATE ALSO FOR ECA/PE/V/R/N/-LARRY A. MOODY; SA/PD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OEXC SCUL KPAO OEXC SUBJECT: FY 05 IV PROGRAM: SRI LANKAN NOMINEE FOR MPR "PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION, FEBRUARY 17- MARCH 10, 2005. PROJECT NO. E/VM-2005-0013 REF: COLOMBO 00765 ¶1. Post nominates Gajendran "Ponnambalam" Member of Parliament, and Anura R. "Solomons", deputy editor/foreign news editor of "Divaina" Sinhala daily newspaper, as principle candidates for participation in subject project. Post confirms that these nominations have "Full country team approval". ¶2. Nomination is as follows: START FIXED-FORMAT TEXT (PLEASE DO NOT EDIT): : The following data is in a fixed format which enables : automated processing in Washington and should not be : edited except by means of the Post-EVDB software. EXPORT-SOURCE: POST-EVDB VERSION: 3.0.7 POST-EMAIL: tilakawardenac@state.gov TRANSMITTING-POST: PAS Colombo TRANSMITTING-POST-ID: 2929 EXPORT-TYPE: BIO DATA START NOMINATION: ECA-OFFICE: E/VGN PROG-AGENCY-NAME: POST-PROJ-ID: 123 ECA-PROJ-NO: E/VM-2005-0013 PROJ-NAME: Preventive Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution - February 17-March 10, 2005 START MEMO PROJ-DESC: END MEMO PROJ-DESC: PROJ-TYPE: Multi-Regional PROG-TYPE: IV Grant Visitor FY: 2004 DEPART-POST: 02/15/2005 SESSION-DATE: 02/17/2005 RETURN-POST: 03/12/2005 NO-OF-PART: 2 RANK-ORDER: 0 START MEMO POST-OBJ: This nomination is in support of MPP goal "Supporting democratic system and practices." END MEMO POST-OBJ: START MEMO POST-RCMD: END MEMO POST-RCMD: ECA-OFFICE-ID: 1039 PROG-AGENCY-ID: PROJ-TYPE-ID: MRP PROG-TYPE-ID: 29 NOMINATING-POST-ID: 2929 FUNDING-CNTRY-ID: STATUS: N ORIGINATOR: U SUBJ-DISC: Conflict Resolution START BIO: PREFIX: Mr. F-NAME: Gajendrakumar M-NAME: Gangaser L-NAME: PONNAMBALAM SUFFIX: POSITION-CODE: 321 PRINCIPAL?: Yes M-ADDR1: 15 Queen's Road M-ADDR2: M-ADDR3: M-CITY: Colombo 3 M-STATE: M-CNTRY: Sri Lanka M-ZONE: M-ZIP: M-PHONE: (94-77) 730-1021 M-FAX: M-EMAIL: M-CNTRY-ID: CE M-ADDRTYPE: H GENDER: M DOB: 01/16/1974 MAR-STAT: S BIRTH-CITY: Colombo BIRTH-CNTRY: Sri Lanka CITIZ-CNTRY: Sri Lanka RES-CNTRY: Sri Lanka START MEMO POSITION: Member of Parliament, April 2004- to date END MEMO POSITION: START MEMO OTHER-POSITIONS: General Secretary, All Ceylon Tamil Congress, January 2004- to date END MEMO OTHER-POSITIONS: START MEMO PREV-POSITIONS: 1999-Dec. 2000 - Criminal Lawyer, Law Chambers of Mr. Daya Perera, P.C. END MEMO PREV-POSITIONS: START MEMO US-TRAVEL: April 2001 - Holiday May 2002 - Holiday END MEMO US-TRAVEL: START MEMO OTHER-TRAVEL: Canada - 2001 - Holiday United Kingdom - 2002, 2003, 2004 - Augustralia - 2002 - Holiday END MEMO OTHER-TRAVEL: START MEMO EDUCATION: LL.B., University of London, 1995 Barrister-at-Law, Lincoln's Inn, 1997 END MEMO EDUCATION: START MEMO MEMBERSHIPS: Member, Central Working Committee, All Ceylon Tamil Congress, 1998-2000 END MEMO MEMBERSHIPS: START MEMO PUBLICATIONS: END MEMO PUBLICATIONS: START MEMO SPEC-CONSID: END MEMO SPEC-CONSID: FIRST-LANG: Tamil ENGL-READ: 4 ENGL-SPEAK: 4 ENGL-COMP: 4 START OTHER-LANGS: OTHER-LANG: Sinhala OTHER-LANG-ID: SI READ: 4 SPEAK: 4 COMP: 4 END OTHER-LANGS: START MEMO NOM-POST-OBJ: This nomination is in support of MPP goal "Supporting Resolution of Regional Conflicts." END MEMO NOM-POST-OBJ: START MEMO NOM-POST-RCMD: END MEMO NOM-POST-RCMD: START MEMO VIS-OBJ: END MEMO VIS-OBJ: START MEMO VIS-REC: END MEMO VIS-REC: NOMINATING-OFFICER: Joseph Novak START MEMO NOMINATING-JUSTIFICATION: Mr. G.G. Ponnambalam, Jr., a criminal lawyer by profession, is a successful and dedicated politician in Sri Lanka's war torn Northern Province. Respected as a future political leader, Ponnambalam is poised to utilize the lessons learned through the subject program during his career. This nomination has "full Country Team approval." END MEMO NOMINATING-JUSTIFICATION: NOM-OFF: Political