Demarche on Country Specific Resolutions at UNGA - Ecuador

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000965 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/17 TAGS: PHUM PREL UNGA EC IR SUBJECT: Demarche on Country Specific Resolutions at UNGA - Ecuador REF: STATE 116264; QUITO 915 CLASSIFIED BY: Andrew Chritton, Charge d'Affaires; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) ¶1. (C) Embassy delivered reftel points to MFA Multilateral Affairs Director General Lourdes Puma on November 16, upon her return from travel. Puma said that she believed that Ecuador would continue its previous practice of voting against any no-action motions, but said that she was unaware of how Ecuador would vote in each of the country specific resolutions, noting only that it could be different in each case. She added that the "priority given to considering multilateral votes on the basis of bilateral relationships" had grown in recent months at the MFA, and that the Multilateral Under Secretariat was no longer informed prior to voting on certain issues with bilateral implications. Rather, such decisions were discussed between the Foreign Minister and the President, and communicated directly to Ecuador's UN mission. ¶2. (C) Embassy's assessment on the Iran resolution, given Lourdes Puma's hints about the likelihood of President Correa's involvement in the decision, is that Ecuador is likely to vote for a no-action motion and against the resolution. These votes would be consistent with Correa's efforts to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Quito and Tehran: the Correa administration agreed to Iran's request to establish first commercial offices and then embassies in each other's capitals over the past two years, President Correa made a high profile visit to Iran in December 2008 (and even stated GOE support for an Iranian nuclear weapons program),and the GOE is increasingly looking to Iran as a source of financing and place to purchase weapons systems. CHRITTON