MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

?Argentina an ally on several fronts'

Speaking so soon after President Néstor Kirchner's presence at the 60th General Assembly of the United Nations, British Ambassador John Hughes thought that “UN at the crossroads” might be as suitable an umbrella topic as any but soon found that there was more than one dish on the Club de la Unión Nacional menu.

The Malvinas, China, European Union farm subsidies, the exit of Aguas Argentinas, terrorism, the EU-Mercosur agreement and British trade unionism were among the many questions put to him.

The envoy's audience warmed when he described Britain as an objective ally of Argentina against EU agricultural subsidies ? the remark was prompted by a question from Roberto Alemann about British Prime Minister Tony Blair's refusal to increase British contributions to an EU budget, 45 percent of which went to subsidize an agriculture accounting for only three percent of European output. But while endorsing these misgivings, Austrian Ambassador Gudrun Graf pointed out that the subsidies covered rather more than three percent because they were also for the protection of the rural landscape for tourism ? very important in her Alpine country.

Asked about the UN Decolonization Committee's call for the negotiation of Malvinas sovereignty, Hughes said that London had no doubts about British sovereignty over the Falklands (he used that F-word) unless and until the islanders decide otherwise, self-determination is the issue. But these differences need not affect relations, especially when Britain has invested 10 billion dollars here since 1992 with a third of its top companies present.

Once a graduate student of the three U's (UK, US, UN) in the postwar period, Hughes dismissed criticisms of the 60th General Assembly as a tepid affair, saying that the UN had taken the right turn at the crossroads ? the UN had always been evolutionary, not revolutionary. For the first time economic development, security and human rights were recognized as mutually reinforcing with terrorism unanimously rejected by the 190 UN members and sovereignty no longer accepted as an excuse for inaction against genocide. Disarmament was one matter pending ? another was trade but this was more properly left to the next meeting of the Doha Round ? due to conclude next year ? in Hong Kong in December. Hughes described Britain as committed to free trade ? politically difficult due to job sensitivities even if better jobs and added value resulted from a more open economy.

"Everybody must make concessions," continued Hughes with reference to the Doha Round, describing the influence of Argentina within the G-20 medium powers as "fundamental" within a group whose policies were not always aligned to its aims. As for the "dog which didn't bark," namely Security Council expansion, Hughes described Britain as sympathetic towards the aspirations of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan to a permanent seat but always subject to agreement within their regions. Hughes further referred to the heavy stress in Britain today on PPPs (public-private partnerships) ? now worth some 100 billion dollars of business.

The Herald's question to Hughes concerned Kirchner's praise of Blair's speech last Wednesday as the best of all. Hughes suggested that the British parliamentary tradition of Prime Minister's question time might have given Blair a better training in agile public speaking than most world leaders.

By Michael Soltys ? Bs. Aires Herald