BURMA: GREEK MFA ON ADDITIONAL BURMA POINTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000723 SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR EAP/MLS (COPE) AND EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2018 TAGS: EAID PREL PGOV PHUM BM GR SUBJECT: BURMA: GREEK MFA ON ADDITIONAL BURMA POINTS REF: A. STATE 55244 ¶B. ATHENS 717 Classified By: A/Political Counselor Jeff Hovenier for 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) A/Political Counselor delivered ref A points to First Counsellor Anthi Balonou, the Deputy Director of the MFA A 10 Diretorate for Asia and Oceania. Balonou reiterated that Greece would be represented at the May 25 UN-ASEAN co-sponsored conference by the Greek Economic Counselor from Bangkok (per ref B),noting that the Greek Embassy in Bangkok is also accredited to Burma. Balonou said that these additional points were helpful and "consistent with Greece's views," adding that she would pass them on to the Greek Embassy in Bangkok to inform the Greek representative at the conference. She expressed particular interest in the prospective U.S. statement regarding the May 24 second round of the regime's constitutional referendum an the expected renewal of Aung San Suu Kyi's huse arrest on May 25. She said that, from the Greek perspective, it remained important to continue to draw attention to the regime's continuing repression. That said, she added that Greece was unlikely to issue a similar statement on its own, and she was unaware of any effort to coordiate an EU political statement on the situation. SPECKHARD