MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK invites Argentina to jointly work in seabed extension

South Atlantic climbs in Ambassador Hughes agenda

The United Kingdom reiterated in an open letter published Thursday in the Buenos Aires press its willingness to collaborate with Argentina in continental shelf extension presentations contemplated under the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"These contacts are part of the UK commitment in promoting practical cooperation with Argentina in a wide range of issues of common interest in the South Atlantic" says the article published in the Tribuna (Your Letters) Section of Buenos Aires daily Clarin. The long piece outlines the British position regarding the extension of seabed jurisdiction limits, contemplated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the subsidiary Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which has had ample coverage in the British and Argentine press given the ongoing dispute over Falkland Islands sovereignty in the South Atlantic. Under provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea coastal countries have until 2009 to make their presentation on continental platform extension claims. Basically it means demonstrating the physical extension of the continental shelf from 200 miles offshore up to 350 miles which enables the benefited country, if accepted by the UN body involved, to have a clear demarcation of its shelf and the right to exploit all natural resources on and below the extended seabed. This will also help determine those areas of the seabed under jurisdiction of coastal countries and the deep ocean beds which are managed by an international authority as humanity's heritage. The letter reveals that UK has been working on the matter and, for example together with France and Ireland have already done an official presentation on the continental shelf surrounding southwest England. "We are also collecting data to make our presentation regarding the Falkland Islands zone. The UK still has much to do in the technical and legal fields to be able to make her presentation in 2009", points out the open letter. "This year we proposed to the Argentine government a bilateral meeting of legal and technical experts who are elaborating the presentations. We've already had meetings of this kind in 2001 and 2004. We are hopeful those contacts on the outer limit of continental platforms will continue to take place". The letter also makes clear that the continental shelf extension, under the Convention of the Law of the Sea, (of which Argentina and the UK are part) is a "long term issue" and the Commission on the Limits is only interested in evidence of the existence of the continental platform extension, following on precise legislation and does not get involved in such issues as "delimitation or overlapping" claims between countries. Argentine Deputy Foreign Secretary Ambassador Roberto García Moritán is also mentioned as having written last April in Clarin an "interesting article describing the work done by Argentine scientists with the purpose of collecting the necessary data to make the presentation on the Argentine continental platform".