MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina elected president of G77 and prepared to act as ‘bridge” with G 20
Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman United nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Argentina for having been chosen to preside as of next year the G77 plus China group, anticipating Buenos Aires could act as a “bridge” with the G 20 group to which it also belongs.
The announcement was done during Tuesday’s meeting of UN Secretary General with Argentina’s Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman, ahead of the 65th UN General Assembly. The Argentine official also brought up the issue of the Falklands and South Atlantic islands sovereignty dispute with Britain.
Ban Ki-moon confirmed he would be present at the formal vote at the end of the month when Argentina is officially elected president of the G77 plus China, and which will also be attended by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
“Argentina is committed to G20 but also to the countries of the political ‘south’, so we are willing to take the voice of these countries to the G20 event”, said Timerman adding that the UN can count with Argentine support in the G20 meeting since “we are wholly committed to multilateralism and the international bodies that make it up”.
According to UN and Argentina sources Ban Ki-moon and Timerman went through the agenda of the coming G20 meeting in Seoul, Korea, which includes issues such as technology transfer, climate change, helping to achieve a world with clean and accessible energy for all.
However Timerman pointed out that the bill for the consequences of climate change can’t be shared with developing countries, which were not involved in causing the problem, but rather by developed countries “that should supply the funds and technology” to address the task.
Timerman congratulated Ban Ki-moon for having named former president Michelle Bachelet as UN Under Secretary for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and praised the Secretary General initiative to have development issues included in the Seoul G20 meeting agenda.
Ban Ki-moon thanked Argentina for its commitment to humanitarian aid, mainly in Haiti but also in other parts of the world, as well as its support for ensuring nuclear security and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful means.
Argentina, following on a suggestion from US President Obama will host next December a meeting of nuclear security experts.
Finally Timerman said Argentina was grateful to Ban Ki-moon standing efforts for the resumption of sovereignty talks with the United Kingdom on the disputed Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands and adjoining maritime spaces, “which represent one of the most shameless colonial attitudes of the XXI century”.
The minister also said Argentina was much concerned with the “unilateral and illegal hydrocarbons activities” in Falklands’ waters and its possible environmental consequences.
G77 currently includes 132 countries, almost two thirds of UN members, all of them considered developing countries plus China. G77 addresses economic and social development issues but has included other topics such as the financial crisis, climate change, humanitarian aid and migration. It also basically promotes south-south cooperation and trade.
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Read all commentsSome strange things in this article.
Sep 15th, 2010 - 10:26 am 01 - Timerman thinks that the “developed” countries should come up with funds to combat climate change and that no costs should be charged to “developing” countries. Now I wonder who he would classify as “developing”? My guess is that Argentina will be close to the top of the list. This classification will ignore the fact that Argentina grabbed the methods of the Industrial Revolution as fast as it could get them. What it doesn't ignore is the fact that Argentina is virtually broke and can't even afford to clean up its own territory.
2 - Timerman said Argentina was grateful to Ban Ki-moon standing efforts for the resumption of sovereignty talks with the United Kingdom on the disputed Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands and adjoining maritime spaces, “which represent one of the most shameless colonial attitudes of the XXI century”. This is strange because there have been no reports of the Secretary-General approaching the UK on this subject. Perhaps he was referring to Argentina's whinge to the S-G and the fact that it wasn't promptly kicked out of the office. But then I uderstand that the S-G is a courteous man.
3 - The minister also said Argentina was much concerned with the “unilateral and illegal hydrocarbons activities” in Falklands’ waters and its possible environmental consequences. This is VERY strange as the Falkland Islands are not a member of the U.N. Licences for exploration are issued by the Falkland Islands Government. It's true that the exploration is being carried out “unilaterally” but then it is being carried within Falklands territorial waters. So it is an internal matter. It is hard to see how an activity that takes place within a country and is licensed by the country's authorities can be illegal.
Whoever is in this government position is obligedto mention the Falkland Islands otherwise they will accused of not being patriotic. It gives them a sence of being as well as the impression that anyone gives a toss.
Sep 15th, 2010 - 04:46 pm 0I suppose Argentina will refrain from drilling in its territorial waters due to environmental concerns; not if another recent article is actually accurate.
Honestly these Argentine officials are an embarrassment to their own people.
Let me get this right - the G77 (+ China?) has 123 members ? So why isn't it the G123? Of course if it gets much bigger it could be called .... the UN !
Sep 19th, 2010 - 03:38 am 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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