MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Deputies will hold session in Antarctica.

The Argentine House of Deputies Foreign Affairs Committee has unanimously decided to hold a session in Antarctica next November 12 to underline the country's long historical Antarctic tradition, reports the Argentine press.

The session, "an expression of sovereignty", will take place in Argentina's Antarctic Marambio base. Congressional members will be flown in on the regular Argentine Air Force monthly mail and supply flight.

"It's a confirmation of the continuous Argentine presence in Antarctica. It will take place after defeating years of British resistance to have Argentina as the permanent seat of an international organization", said Foreign Affairs committee president Deputy Jorge Argüello from the ruling Justicialista party.

This Tuesday the Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Rafael Bielsa will officially inaugurate the Antarctic Treaty permanent Secretariat Office in Buenos Aires whose first Executive Secretary is Dutch born Jan Huber nominated last May/June during the annual meeting of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Cape Town.

Britain lifted the ban on Argentina's candidacy for the permanent seat of the Secretariat in 2001.

The agenda for the Marambio session includes a proposal to unify at national level all Antarctic related programs and activities and Argentina's adherence to the International Polar Year in 2007. An honors medal will be bestowed to a guest specially invited for the occasion, General Joreg Edgard Leal, 83, who was the founder of Antarctic base "Esperanza" and head of the first Argentine ground expedition to reach the South Pole.