BURMA: ITALY CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR FORMAL UNSC

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 002130 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO/UNP PAUL WICKBERG EAP/MLS AARON COPE G KELLEY CURRIE E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM UNSC BM IT SUBJECT: BURMA: ITALY CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR FORMAL UNSC MEETING AND PRST REF: SECSTATE 139713 Classified By: A/Pol M/C Jonathan R. Cohen, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche October 4 to MFA Office Director for Southeast Asia Alberto Vecchi and Office Director for UN Affairs Leonardo Bencini. Poloff requested Italian support for a formal UN Security Council meeting on Burma with Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari and for a Presidential Statement based upon reftel draft points. Bencini, confirming what MFA PolDir Giulio Terzi told us October 1, said Italy would support both the meeting and the PRST, although Bencini worried that adopting the PRST would be difficult, as he thought it unlikely the Council would reach consensus. SPOGLI