MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Antarctic Treaty Secretariat to be based in Argentina.
Argentina has won its long campaign to be the headquarters of the Antarctic Treaty. The United Kingdom has dropped its objections on the basis of assurances that Argentina will focus its Antarctic activities on civilian scientific endeavour.
This was announced after the first meeting in London (on July 17) between Britain's new Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, and the Argentine Foreign Minister, Dr Adalberto Giavarini, who told a news conference it was very important for Argentina.
It was also confirmed that the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, will extend his forthcoming visit to Brazil across the border to the Argentine side of the Iguazu Falls for a meeting with Argentine President De La Rua
The Foreign Ministers also approved a feasibility study on removal of mines left behind in the Falkland Islands by the 1982 Argentine invasion.
UK insists on Falklands involvement in fish conservation
In a discussion on South Atlantic fish conservation, Mr Straw insisted the Falkland Islands Government must be involved, when the Argentines said they wished to increase co-operation .
(At the latest Anglo-Argentine Fisheries Commission meeting in London in June, in which Falklands experts participate, the British and Argentine Governments reiterated their commitment to preserve fish and squid stocks and agreed to increase their efforts in a co-ordinated manner.)
After the Foreign Ministers' meeting, the Foreign Office issued no public statement . But it has now ended its veto of Argentina's application to host the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, which virtually all other member nations have supported. Mr Straw said he was pleased to announce that the United Kingdom is ready to "join the consensus on the location of the Secretariat".
Mr Straw welcomed what he called Argentina's "positive actions" to enhance their Antarctic programme and strengthen "regulatory control" of its Antarctic activities, and its intention to strengthen "emphasis on science", focusing on "scientific issues of global importance", in line with key objectives of the Antarctic Treaty. The United Kingdom looks forward to "further co-operation with Argentina on scientific research" as its programme develops, with "greater emphasis on the role of civilians" in Argentina's Antarctic Department (DNA - Direccion Nacional Antarctica), with a new civilian head, which the United Kingdom regards as "a welcome step".
Argentine Antarctic director to visit British b
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