MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina to present Antarctic and insular sea bed claims

“In early 2009 Argentina will make its formal presentation” said minister Taiana

Argentina will be making a formal presentation before United Nations claiming Antarctic sea bed sometime in early 2009 it was announced this weekend in Buenos Aires. The issue is back in the headlines following the UK's claim presentation involving St Helena and Ascension islands in the mid Atlantic.

May 2009 is the deadline under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention for coastal countries with continental platform extension claims, from mile 200 to 350, to make their formal presentation which must be supported by relevant scientific (geological, geophysical) data. Several countries have already advanced some of their claims and in some cases when disputes are involved jointly, because the UN Law of the Sea freezes any decisions on such situations. According to reports in the Buenos Aires press "the Argentine government has almost finished the technical processing and interpretation of data recollected in the extended sea bed area" and will be forwarding the claim before the May deadline. The Kirchners administrations have also warned that Argentina will object and formally protest any similar claim from the UK regarding the extension of the Falkland or/and South Georgia islands sea bed sovereignty, "because they are Argentine territories". Besides the South Atlantic islands dispute, Argentina and UK have also overlapping claims regarding Antarctica. Furthermore Argentina's presentation of its continental platform rights extension "will naturally include the Argentine Antarctic sector, Islas Malvinas, Goergias del Sur y Sandwith del Sur", underlined sources from Palacio San Martin quoted in the Buenos Aires press. The Argentine government made a big display of its presentation preparations because it was criticized by the opposition and nationalistic groups for its "slowness" and "weakness" in responding to London's claim intentions in the South Atlantic which in Argentina are considered "inevitable" and must be "firmly confronted". "It's crystal clear this British attitude has nothing to do with kelpers (Falkland Islanders) selfdetermination or historical questions or of any sort. What only matters are natural resources", Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana was amply quoted. The extension of the continental shelf claim to 350 miles awards the coastal country the right to exploit resources on and below the sea bed such as hydrocarbons or minerals. However there is some controversy surrounding the Argentine claim in the Antarctic seabed because one of the golden rules of the Antarctic Treaty which governs the south casket ice and land mass is that all sovereignty aspirations are frozen for half a century Britain last May stated that it would abstain from any sea bed claims extending from the British Antarctic Territories but reserves the right to do so in the future. As to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia London said it was evaluating how to proceed, although Argentina is convinced there will be a UK sea bed claim presentation regarding South Atlantic islands. It is known the UK at some point suggested to Argentina the joint presentation of such claims which allegedly was not even replied by Buenos Aires. UK has appealed to this formula with several European countries. But in Argentina criticism to government is also extensive to the "meager funds" dedicated to the task and the time which has evolved --"eleven years"-- since the creation of a "special committee on the outer limits of the continental platform" which operates in the framework of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "As worrisome is the fact that the Argentine ministry has on occasions appealed to foreign vessels to help collect data from the sea bed and possible resources, which means information of enormous strategic value could end in not the right hands", argues to Deputy Mario Cafiero. According to estimates from the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry the claim could extend the Argentine continental platform a further 1.5 million square kilometers, two thirds of which from the continent and the rest in Antarctica. Ministerial sources underline that extending the Argentine sea bed 350 miles off San Jorge Gulf in the South Atlantic reaches the geological strip along "which Brazil recently announced the discovery of vast pre salt oil reserves which could make the neighboring country a hydrocarbons world power".