ICOC - GUATEMALA UNABLE TO SUBSCRIBE BY OCTOBER

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002461 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NP/CBM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL MNUC KSCA ETTC TSPA GT MTCRE SUBJECT: ICOC - GUATEMALA UNABLE TO SUBSCRIBE BY OCTOBER REF: A. STATE 226229 ¶B. STATE 254339 Guatemala remains interested in subscribing to the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (ICOC),but is not prepared to do so at the October 2-3 meeting in New York. Sylvia Corado, Director for Multilateral Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, told PolOff on August 7 that the MFA was encouraged by the option (ref A) to "otherwise abide by" the three treaties listed in Section 3(a) of the ICOC because, in Guatemala, the process to ratify or accede to them would be quite long. However, Corado cautioned that in order to abide by the treaties as a matter of national policy, Guatemala had to be sure it understood its obligations, and was at that time engaged in an interagency review of these obligations. Poloff followed up with the Spanish talking points provided in ref B on September 10. On September 18, Corado informed us that the GOG interagency review was making little progress and that Guatemala would be unable to subscribe to the ICOC by the October 2-3 meeting in New York. Corado would not speculate on how much more time may be needed for the GOG to define its position in regards to the ICOC. HAMILTON