MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Joint British-Argentine search and rescue exercise.

Argentine and British military concluded Sunday search and rescue exercises in the South Atlantic in the vicinity of Falklands/Malvinas waters according to reports in the Buenos Aires press.

Apparently since last Thursday, Argentine and British air and naval unites were involved in a maritime and air search and rescue operations.

The Argentine press reports that the exercises were held in the framework of the joint Argentine-United Kingdom declarations of February 15, 1990, September 25, 1991 and July 12, 1993 regarding military confidence building measures in the South Atlantic.

"Since Argentina is the search and rescue authority in the South Atlantic as decided by the International Maritime Organization, the exercise has the objective of increasing coordination actions between the Argentine Coordination Centre and the Islas Malvinas Sub-centre, and the operational capabilities of the Argentine Armed Forces to address incidents of that nature", reads an official release regarding the exercise.