LITHUANIAN WILL FOLLOW THE EU FLOW ON BURMA

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000848 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR EAP/MLS:ACOPE AND EEB/TFS:KMCCORMACK E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2017 TAGS: PGOV ETRD EFIN LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIAN WILL FOLLOW THE EU FLOW ON BURMA REF: SECSTATE 155019 Classified By: DCM Damian Leader for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) (C) On November 16 we met with Diana Mickeviciene, Head of the MFA's Asia and Pacific Division to discuss reftel. In spite of our request to Mickeviciene to urge her EU counterparts to support financial sanctions for Burma, she told us that the GOL will not take a strong stance and will work within the EU's consensus-based system. Mickeviciene said that the EU's Asia Working Group has regularly discussed sanctions since mid-September. However, the EU only completed the details of its October 15th Burma sanctions the week of November 5th. Mickeviciene described reluctance in the Asia Working Group to consider further measures against Burma during Gambari's mission. In addition, Mickeviciene said that some member states arguing for financial sanctions were countered by others who stated these would be ineffective without actively engaging Singaporean banks. Nonetheless, Mickeviciene predicts that within a few weeks the EU will discuss further actions against the Burmese regime and thanked us for the OFAC overview of U.S. sanctions against Burma. CLOUD