International
InternationalUK/Argentina begin new dialogue and agree on areas of mutual interest including the South Atlantic
The British Government and the Government of Argentina have agreed to an improved relationship through closer co-operation on areas of mutual interest, including on trade, security and the South Atlantic. A UK-Argentine joint statement has been agreed and released on Tuesday 13 September, following a series of high level meetings in Buenos Aires with Sir Alan Duncan - the first Foreign Office Minister to visit Argentina since 2009.
Brazil launches ambitious program to auction off oil, power and infrastructure concessions
Brazil on Tuesday launched a multibillion-dollar plan to auction off oil, power rights and infrastructure concessions, in an attempt by the new government to bolster private investment in a moribund economy. The government will sell operating licenses for airports in the cities of Porto Alegre, Salvador, Florianopolis and Fortaleza by the first quarter of 2017. It also plans to sell rights to operate federal roads in the center-west and south regions later next year.
First OAS Electoral Observation Mission to the US next November 8
The former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, will head the first Electoral Observation Mission that the OAS will deploy to the United States and that will observe the upcoming November 8 elections.
Controversy in Westminster over the surface fleet and the Type 26 frigates
British MP Julian Lewis, who chairs the Commons defense committee, claimed contractors BAE Systems were ready to start work on the multi-billion pound Ministry of Defense's new Type 26 frigates, known as global combat ships. The project has already been cut from 13 to eight new ships, while a target to start cutting steel in May has been delayed indefinitely.
More than 230 cruise ships will pass through the Panama Canal this 2016/17 season
Cruise ship Coral Princess is slated to transit the Panama Canal on a voyage from Los Angeles, Calif., to the U.S. East Coast on October 4, 2016, officially kicking off the canal’s 2016-2017 cruise season, which according to the Panama Canal Authority will see more than 230 cruise ships pass through the Panama Canal.
“If beef is not included”, there won't be no Mercosur-EU trade agreement, warns Uruguay
“If beef is not included, there won't be any agreement”, said Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa in anticipation of next week's meeting of European Union and Mercosur coordinators to adjust the list of goods and services the two blocks will formally exchange in mid October, the first formal meeting of its kind in fourteen years.
Ex PM Cameron “after a long and hard thought” resigns as a Member of Parliament
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Monday that he is stepping down as a member of Parliament, just months after leaving 10 Downing Street. Cameron, a member of the Conservative Party, stepped down as prime minister in July after the United Kingdom voted in a June referendum to leave the European Union, saying the country needed new leadership.
Gibraltar celebrates National Day defiantly:“if Brexit means Brexit, then British means British”
Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo sent a firm message on Saturday, 10 September, the Rock's National Day, which was accompanied by strong support messages from the UK and a visiting delegation of MPs from all parties in Westminster
Trade, investments and Falklands in Sir Alan Duncan's agenda in Buenos Aires
UK Foreign Office minister of state for the Americas and the Falkland Islands, Sir Alan Duncan begins this Monday a full agenda of activities in Buenos Aires with the purpose of promoting business, investments and normalizing bilateral relations, after more than a decade of distant when not frozen links under the Kirchner couple administrations. The Falkland Islands issue is also expected to be addressed but with “a constructive spirit”.
Brazil's ex attorney general claims he was fired for trying to deepen Petrobras corruption case
Brazil's new government is trying to stifle a corruption investigation targeting politicians and major parties, the former attorney general said in a magazine interview a day after being replaced by President Michel Temer. The former official, Fabio Medina Osorio, told weekly magazine Veja that he was fired because he tried to deepen the so-called “Car Wash” corruption probe into the country's oil company Petrobras.
