SRI LANKA: DEMARCHES ON IAEA

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000411 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP PARM PREL MNUC IR CE IAEA SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: DEMARCHES ON IAEA REF: A. STATE 30313 ¶B. STATE 31323 ¶1. (U) On February 24 poloff presented reftel demarches to Sumedha Ekanayake, Assistant Director for UN and Multilateral Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ekanayake thanked us for the information but offered no immediate reaction to either demarche, noting only that Aruni Wijewardena, Sri Lanka's new ambassador accredited to UNVIE, had just arrived in Vienna this week and would be examining these issues closely. He undertook to pass the information to her. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: In view of the close ties between Iran and Sri Lanka, we believe there is little possibility of the Sri Lankan government issuing a national statement on Iran (Ref B). President Kumaratunga made a two-day state visit to Iran November 23-24 at the invitation of the Iranian president and received an Iranian promise of concessional treatment on petroleum exports. (Iran is Sri Lanka's main supplier of crude oil.) More recently, Iran's deputy foreign minister visited Sri Lanka on February 17 and announced that his government will donate USD 10 million for tsunami relief and rehabilitation activities in Sri Lanka. LUNSTEAD