MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

St. Lucia supports sovereignty negotiations.

St. Lucia Prime Minister, the Caribbean island that currently chairs the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, (or C 24), supported the resumption of negotiations between Argentina and Britain regarding the Falkland Islands sovereignty.

Mr. Kenneth Anthony who last week visited Argentina signed with President Fernando De la Rúa several bilateral agreements including a document pledging the renewal of negotiations between Argentina and United Kingdom "to find as quickly as possible, a peaceful, fair and enduring solution to the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas". Mr. De la Rúa expressed his satisfaction with "St. Lucia's positive contributions to the UN Special Decolonization Committee".

"St. Lucia is a nation which has just emerged from the grip of colonialism...so we understand why this is such an important issue, and we're determined to see what options exist and possible solutions", underlined Mr. Anthony following a private meeting with President De la Rua in Casa Rosada (Government House). "Talks were informative and covered all aspects of the sovereignty dispute", indicated the Argentine president.

Besides the support for the resumption of Falklands sovereignty negotiations both leaders signed the creation of a Joint Bilateral Committee, a Technical Agreement and agreed on closer links between the Argentine Investment and Trade bank and St. Lucia Private Sector Relations Office. Praising his counterpart, Mr. De la Rúa recalled that two Nobel Prizes were born in St. Lucia, Economist Athrur Levais and poet and play writer Derek Walcott.

Massive aid for sheep farming

Argentina will be investing 200 million US dollars in public funds during the next ten years to help recover sheep farming. The Bill unanimously sanctioned in Congress will become effective once funds are available in the 2002 budget, and will be split among four main areas, Northeast, Entre Ríos and Corrientes provinces, Humid Pampa and Patagonia.

The Recovery of Sheep Farming Activity Bill follows a recent bill creating the "sheep banks", which will distribute selected rams and ewes to help farmers rebuild flocks after several seasons of dreadful wool prices and climatic adversities. "We believe that the sheep recovery and sheep bank bills will become essential tools to bring the industry back in its feet", said Mr. Fermín del Papa, Santa Cruz Rural Society vicepresident. Mr. Del Papa added that if Patagonia didn't receive this boost it