Sri Lanka, which has had close economic and political relations with Iran, has voted against such resolutions on several occasions before. The resolutions are annual political exercises by the United States against Iran.

The foreign ministry has not only asked for an explanation from Mahendran for violating government instructions but also asked him to reverse the voting when the issue comes up before the General Assembly. Since Iran itself had complained about the voting, Sri Lanka's ambassador to Iran Omar Kamil also brought the matter before the foreign ministry. According to the foreign ministry sources, Mahendran had said he was pressured by the United States to abstain on the resolution.

On Friday, Iran's powerful Finance and Economics Minister, Tahmash Mazaheri said in Colombo, that Sri Lanka could select their own partners when dealing with other countries. In response to a question on what his government thought of Sri Lanka tilting towards the United States during the past two years, the Iranian Minister said, " Any country could select its partners. If Sri Lanka can find a good market in the US or anywhere we have no problem about it. It is up to Sri Lankan government to select who is good for them." The new Iranian Ambassador to Colombo, Behnam Behrous pointed out there was a gap on the flow of information between the tow countries and it has to be bridged. Published: Sun Jan 25 19:28:44 EST 2004

Other distinguished speakers at the seminar are Louise Frechette, UN Deputy Secretary -General, Karl Inderfurth former US Assistant Secretary of State, Javier Solona, Secretary General of the Council of the EU, J.N. Dixit former Indian foreign secretary, Sashi Tharoor, Under- Secretary-General of the UN, Yang Chenxu, President, China Institute of for International Studies in Bejing, Y. Kozhokin, Director, Russian Institute of Strategic Studies in Moscow, Stephen Schlesinger, Director, World Policy Institute , New York, William Imbrie, Director , Office of Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Operations at the US State Department, Abdul Salam Majali , former Prime Minister of Jordan, Ely Karmon, Senior Fellow, International Policy Institute for Counter -Terrorism in Israel, Dr. Rohan Guneratne, Head of Counter- Terrorism Research , Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies NT University in Singapore.

The conference would discuss current challenges to multilateralism and the United Nations, conflict resolution and post-conflict management, international cooperation in tackling terrorism, drugs and organized crime, United Nations and weapons of mass destruction, prospects of strengthening and restructuring of multilateral institutions and the united nations. Indian External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha will also attend the conference. Published: Sun Jan 25 19:22:09 EST 2004