MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Agreement has gone down well in the Islands says Ambassador.

Ambassador Sir Robin Christopher KBE CMG, has been in Argentina for just over three months now. Last Tuesday afternoon he met with Mercopress in the office at the British Embassy in Buenos Aires.

He was born in Sussex and after a year in Bolivia teaching English studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University. He joined the foreign service in 1970 starting work in London and then moving on to New Delhi. Other foreign postings include Lusaka, and Madrid. In 1994 he was appointed ambassador to Addis Ababa and then Jakarta, his post prior to Buenos Aires. He was knighted in 2000, is married and has two daughters.

During the meeting with Mercopress, a range of issues related to Anglo-Argentine issues and the Falkland Islands were brought up.

The Ambassador "commended" the Islanders for the welcome they have given to Argentine visitors and pointed out "I think contacts between the people of Argentina and the Islanders themselves are important and I hope they can be encouraged."

The Ambassador said President De La Rúa made clear the Argentine Government's policy and interest was in building up the trust of the people of the Islands and he agreed that in order to do this it was important to facilitate contact between the Islands and the people of Argentina.

Sir Robin said the United Kingdom would be delighted to see Buenos Aires as the seat of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat. "We have no objections in principle to Buenos Aires".

Following is a transcript of the main points interview with the Ambassador:

What are your first impressions of Buenos Aires and Argentina?

"Well first of all, it's a very great pleasure to be here because I began my travels at the age of nineteen by coming to Latin America as a British VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) volunteer, in fact to Bolivia and I got stung with the bug of Latin America at a young age. I hadn't had the opportunity to come back until now, with the Foreign Office, so we were looking forward to this posting very much indeed. It's a delight to be here, in the summer, when it is cold and wet in my country, it's rather warm here and enjoying the delights of Buenos Aires, one of the most beautiful cities of the world, so I'm very happy.

So how are Anglo-Argentine relations at the moment?

"I think they're pretty good. I arrived here with a very warm message from my Prime Minister Tony Blair. A strong mes