MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Buenos Aires seat of Antartic Treaty Secretariat

Buenos Aires was officially designated as the seat of the permanent Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty during the XXVI Consulting Meeting held last June in Madrid, Spain.

The Executive Secretary of the AT will be nominated in the next international meeting of the forty five members of the treaty to be held in South Africa.

During the recent Madrid sessions tourism and its impact on the unique environment as well as illegal fishing in Antarctic waters were the main topics.

The Treaty was signed in 1959 with the purpose of among others, ensuring the peaceful use of Antarctica and its surrounding waters; postponing any sovereignty claims; promoting international scientific cooperation; banning nuclear tests and the dumping or elimination of radioactive materials.

Originally the AT had twelve full members but the number has grown to 45.

Argentina had long aspired to become the seat of the AT Secretariat but following the South Atlantic conflict of 1982, Britain had systematically vetoed the initiative.

However after diplomatic relations between both AT member countries were reestablished in the early nineties a gradual rapprochement began that ended Britain's objections.