US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO411

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Identifier:	05COLOMBO411
Wikileaks:	View 05COLOMBO411 at Wikileaks.org
Origin:	Embassy Colombo
Created:	2005-02-24 10:38:00
Classification:	UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Tags:	KNNP PARM PREL MNUC IR CE IAEA
Redacted:	This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000411 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP, PARM, PREL, MNUC, IR, CE, IAEA 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  DEMARCHES ON IAEA 
 
REF: A. STATE 30313 
     B. STATE 31323 
 
1.  (U) On February 24 poloff presented reftel demarches to 
Sumedha Ekanayake, Assistant Director for UN and Multilateral 
Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Ekanayake 
thanked us for the information but offered no immediate 
reaction to either demarche, noting only that Aruni 
Wijewardena, Sri Lanka's new ambassador accredited to UNVIE, 
had just arrived in Vienna this week and would be examining 
these issues closely.  He undertook to pass the information 
to her. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Comment:  In view of the close ties between Iran 
and Sri Lanka, we believe there is little possibility of the 
Sri Lankan government issuing a national statement on Iran 
(Ref B).  President Kumaratunga made a two-day state visit to 
Iran November 23-24 at the invitation of the Iranian 
president and received an Iranian promise of concessional 
treatment on petroleum exports.  (Iran is Sri Lanka's main 
supplier of crude oil.)  More recently, Iran's deputy foreign 
minister visited Sri Lanka on February 17 and announced that 
his government will donate USD 10 million for tsunami relief 
and rehabilitation activities in Sri Lanka. 
LUNSTEAD