ITALY: BURMA POLICY REVIEW DEMARCHE DELIVERED

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000423 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD BM SUBJECT: ITALY: BURMA POLICY REVIEW DEMARCHE DELIVERED REF: STATE 33547 Classified By: Political Officer Gabriel Escobar for reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche April 8 to MFA Southeast Asia desk officer Fabio Schina, sharing the direction of the U.S. Burma policy review and the possibility of direct dialogue between the United States and Burmese authorities. Schina said Italy believed that maintaining open channels of dialogue was essential, even in cases like Burma, where there were serious concerns about human rights and political liberty. Schina said Italy believed that the international community should focus on strengthening civil society elements and pressing other regional states (with more significant trading relationships with Burma than the EU),such as Indonesia, into taking a tougher stand. ¶2. (C) Schina agreed that the April GAERC was unlikely to make any changes to the EU Common Position on Burma. He said the MFA had seen a copy of the Treasury Department paper on possible changes to EU Burma sanctions, and thanked us for our efforts to coordinate approaches on Burma. DIBBLE