MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sir Christopher “Each country decides”

British Ambassador Sir Robin Christopher in Buenos Aires said that “each country decides whether to support or not to support the war”, but “this in no way will affect relations”.

Sir Christopher was replying to journalists who asked if the fact that Argentina had decided not to support actions against Iraq would have consequences.

Sir Christopher explained that his recent meeting with Fernando Petrella, Argentine Foreign Policy Department Under Secretary responded to precise instructions from London to all Embassies inquiring not about military support for the conflict, but rather consulting whether Argentina was willing to grant political support to the war effort.

Apparently the instructions followed the Azores summit when British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with President George Bush and Spanish president José Aznar in the Portuguese islands in mid Atlantic.

Ambassador Christopher met with journalists following a lunch at the Club de la Unión Nacional in Buenos Aires where he was the main speaker and emphasized that three pillars were necessary if Argentina is to recover international trust: political reliability, ensuring legal certainty and global commitment to the world.

When asked if Argentina's stance regarding the Iraq crisis could have consequences, Sir Christopher replied with a strong no insisting that in his conference he was referring to trade and investments.

"For my country Iraq is a matter of principal and survival; no one has worked as strongly as Prime Minister Blair to try and reach a consensus on the matter", stressed Sir Christopher