US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO1818

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001818 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, IO, NEA, INR/NESA 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  10-20-13 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, CE, IZ, SP, UN 
SUBJECT:  Iraq Donors Conference:  GSL will send Paris 
envoy to Madrid and will announce gift of tea 
 
Refs:  (A) Colombo 1809; (B) State 294287 
 
(U) Classified by Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead. 
Reasons 1.5 (b, d). 
 
1.  (SBU) Following up on the Ambassador's October 17 
meeting with Foreign Minister Fernando regarding the 
upcoming Iraq Donors Conference, polchief spoke with 
Sarala Fernando, the MFA's Assistant Secretary for 
Multilateral Affairs, on October 20.  Fernando said 
Ananda Goonesekara, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France who 
is also accredited to Spain, would attend the Madrid 
conference.  It was also possible that Ambassador Romesh 
Jayasinghe, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Belgium and to the 
European Union, would attend.  Fernando added that 
Goonesekara would announce that Sri Lanka was providing 
25 metric tons of tea as assistance to Iraq. 
 
2.  (C) Comment:  Goonesekara, who before Paris served 
in a high-level position at the MFA, is one of Sri 
Lanka's most senior diplomats and is well-known to 
Mission.  He is somewhat prone to NAM-, G-77-type 
thinking, but he is friendly enough to the U.S.  Sri 
Lanka's gift of tea is symbolic of its desire to re- 
establish its position as a major exporter of this 
commodity to Iraq and is indicative of the GSL's desire 
to make a commitment -- even if small -- to Iraqi 
reconstruction.  End Comment. 
 
3.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
LUNSTEAD