Honduran Ratification of the Montreal Convention:

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002460 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EB/TRA/OTP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ECON HO SUBJECT: Honduran Ratification of the Montreal Convention: Maybe Next Year REF: State 261967 ¶1. EconOff delivered talking points in reftel to the Honduran Vice Minister for Transportation, Eduardo Pavon, on September 20th, and to the Director of Civil Aviation, Cesar Vasquez, on October 15. Pavon asked for more information about the treaty. EconOff obtained a copy of the treaty in Spanish and some additional information, and sent it to the Vice Minister. 2) Vasquez indicated that the GOH has no objection to ratifying the convention, and the only reason the GOH has not done so already is the slow pace at which the Congress operates. Vasquez says there are currently four or five other international conventions pertaining to civil aviation, none of them controversial, that the GOH has not ratified. Vasquez plans to bundle these conventions together and have the Minister of Transportation present them to Congress in the next month. Even in the best case scenario, however, Vasquez thinks that the earliest they could be ratified would be early 2004. Comment: Emboffs will continue to urge ratification at all appropriate opportunities. End comment. Palmer