Cablegate: Asem Demarche - Estonia Holding Eu Line

VZCZCXRO9078
OO RUEHAG
DE RUEHTL #0695 2150931
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 030931Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8864
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI IMMEDIATE 5066
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON IMMEDIATE 0003

C O N F I D E N T I A L TALLINN 000695

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM FI BU EN
SUBJECT: ASEM DEMARCHE - ESTONIA HOLDING EU LINE

REF: STATE 124139

Classified By: DCM Jeff Goldstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

(C) As requested reftel, on August 2, Poloff met with Inga
Poldma, Acting MFA Director
for Asia Affairs, to express the USG's surprise and
disappointment in the EU's invitation
to the Burmese Foreign Minister to attend the upcoming ASEM
Summit in Helsinki.
Poldma vigorously defended the Finns, noting that the
invitation predated the Finnish
Presidency, and was therefore not a Finnish Presidency
decision but one agreed upon by
all EU members on June 19. Furthermore, she defended the
EU's actions by saying that
"it is better to have the Burmese present in Helsinki so that
a constructive dialogue is
possible." She added that Burma's invitation has broad
support within the EU. When
pressed why an invitation was not issued for a lower level
Burmese participant, Poldma
was only able to answer that if the matter becomes more
controversial, the EU has
mechanisms in place to reconsider the Burmese Foreign
Minister's participation.
WOS

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