GUATEMALA STILL STUDYING BALLISTIC MISSILE ICOC

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001108 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NP/CBM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PARM MNUC ETTC TSPA GT SUBJECT: GUATEMALA STILL STUDYING BALLISTIC MISSILE ICOC REF: A. STATE 89910 ¶B. 02 GUATEMALA 2889 PolOff raised ref A points with Sylvia Corado, Director for Multilateral Affairs at the Foreign Ministry (MFA) on April ¶25. Corado said the MFA remains interested in subscribing to the International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (ICOC),and hopes to do so in time to participate in the June meeting on implementation issues and confidence building measures. Corado explained that the MFA had not responded to our earlier demarche (ref B),because paragraph 3 (a) of the ICOC requires subscribers to "ratify, accede to, or otherwise abide by" the terms of three treaties related to outer space. Corado admitted the MFA has very little expertise in this area and needed to be sure it understood what it was signing. Corado stressed that Guatemala supports the goal of non-proliferation. HAMILTON