DEMARCHING CYPRUS ON BURMESE FOREIGN MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 001331 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM FI BU EUN SUBJECT: DEMARCHING CYPRUS ON BURMESE FOREIGN MINISTER INVITATION TO ASEM REF: STATE 124139 Classified By: DCM Jane B. Zimmerman, reasons 1.4 B/D ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel message on August 7, 2006 to Stelios Makriyiannis in the MFA's Division of Asia and Africa. He replied that the Finnish decision was not surprising because it was indeed in accordance with the EU common position that visas could be issued to Burma cabinet members for multilateral meetings. He provided poloff with the text of the common position and said that any time a member of the Burmese government was invited to an EU multilateral meeting, it was the EU's common intention to use that invitation as an opportunity to raise difficult human rights questions. SCHLICHER