The newspaper also reports that the parties are meeting to discuss a way out of their bilateral dispute.

?The parties agreed to start with the analysis of the maritime issues which, they consider, has been the best chances of reaching positive agreements in less time,? the report continued.

Interestingly, the meeting is eclipsed with a two-day debate over Belize?s national budget in the National Assembly, and little details on the Belize-Guatemala meeting are forthcoming from the Belize Government.

Senior Ambassador with Ministerial Rank, H.E. Assad Shoman, is heading the delegation, said a Government of Belize press release issued today. H.E. Alfredo Martinez; H.E. Lisa Shoman; H.E. Eamon Courtenay; Diane Haylock; Lindsay Belisle; Dylan Vernon; Lt. Col. Roberto Ramirez; Major John Borland and Oliver del Cid are accompanying him, it adds.

The two countries have a territorial dispute rooted in an 1859 treaty between British and Guatemala, which has remained a thorny legacy for Belize even 25 years after Independence.

Official statements from the Organization of American States (OAS) say that the two are discussing ?maritime issues,? but do not elaborate.

At times ?maritime issues? have proved to be as contentious as border issues in the longstanding disagreement between the two countries.

Since 2000, Belize-Guatemala talks have been held under the auspices of the OAS, but a prior attempt at settlement via referendum in 2003 failed.

This is the third bilateral ministerial meeting, falling under an agreement captioned Framework for Negotiations and Confidence Building Measures (CBM) between Belize and Guatemala. The agreement was signed at the OAS on September 7, 2005.

The OAS?s last press release on the talks, dated February 10, 2006, said that Honduras would be invited to participate in the negotiations.

The first ministerial meeting under the new agreement was held on San Pedro, Ambergris Caye last November.

Purportedly, the agreement is to ?maintain and deepen?friendly bilateral relations until the territorial differendum is permanently resolved.?