MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Two Ministers For Falklands.

The British Foreign Office Minister responsible for the Falklands Islands and relations with Argentina, Mr John Battle, is planning to make his first visit to the Islands in a few weeks time, either in February or March. He intends to combine it with a visit to Chile, travelling to the Falkland Islands by way of Santiago and Punta Arenas.

The other Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister with responsibility for the Falkland Islands, as Under-secretary for the Overseas Territories, Baroness Scotland of Asthall, is combining a stay in the Falkland Islands with a visit to Antarctica as the first Foreign Office Minister to go there, though Environment Ministers have previously been.

She is flying from the Falklands on a British Antarctic Survey Dash aircraft to the BAS base at Rothera, where she will meet some of the hundreds of British scientists who do research in the Antarctic. She is due to arrive in the Falkland Islands next Tuesday, January 23, stay at Government House and have talks with Falklands Councillors and officials before flying on to Antarctica on Thursday. She will be accompanied by the Commissioner for the British Antarctic Territories, Mr John White, the senior Foreign office official responsible for this area.

Baroness Scotland, one of the Labour Government's most charismatic Ministers, is used to warmer climates, having been a barrister in Antigua and Dominica. She is Britain's first woman black Minister, and has been a life peer since 1997, with a brilliant career as a barrister, qualifying at the age of 21, becoming a QC, and a judge.

As well as the overseas territories, she has responsibility for North America and Information, including the BBC World Service. She has been a member of the Millennium Commission and of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Mr Battle has been the most outspoken of Ministers in his strong support of the Falkland Islanders, and their wish to remain British, and in the United Kingdom's rejection of Argentina's sovereignty claim. He has welcomed improved relations with Argentina, and Falklands agreement to co-operation, with the Argentines in fish conservation, allowing entry to Argentine citizens, and direct flights.

He has previously visited Chile for talks with the Government and the inauguration of the President. As one of the busiest and most widely -travelled of British Ministers, with huge areas of South-East Asia and all of Latin America within his responsibility, he has been eager to visit the Islands and wants to seize the opportunity in advance of a possible