MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean ministers to Congress over Antarctic claims

Antarctic sector claim by UK

Chile's Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee has summoned for next Tuesday the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence to consider the international statute of Antarctica. The meeting follows on the United Kingdom's recent announcement that it's considering claiming continental shelf rights off Antarctica

During the meeting Ministers Alejandro Foxley and Jose Goñi are expected to make a brief presentation on the case, provide more details on the UK's announcement and discuss possible and effective ways to counteract such a move, according to Chilean congressional sources quoted by the Santiago press. Also participating of the meeting will be Jose Retamales Espinoza, head of the Chilean Antarctic Institute; Critian Maqueira director of the Environment Desk at the Chilean Foreign Affairs ministry plus military officers from the three services involved in the Chilean Armed Forces Antarctic activities. Carlos Abel Jarpa president of the commission said that what was relevant "is to determine which is the Chilean government's stance vis-à-vis the British initiative and analyze steps Chilean diplomacy is planning". Jarpa underlined that under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty no country is entitled to request territorial ambitions over the continent and much less engage in industrial or related research, and that only scientific research and world tourism are contemplated. "I believe that when the time comes, we must stand up in support of these basic principles", said Jarpa. The meeting follows a week of unaccustomed Antarctic activities: all members of the Chilean Lower House Defence Committee visited and stayed two nights in the Chilean permanent base President Frei with the purpose of sending a clear message about the long established and exercised "Chilean Antarctic sovereignty". From Buenos Aires press reports indicate that Chile and Argentina are working on a joint strategy to address the announced British claim. This would include collecting data on the Antarctic maritime shelf as stipulated in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea regarding continental sea shelf limits. The issue will be addressed during the coming Ibero American summit to be held in Santiago on November 7/8 and to which the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has been invited. The announced British claim coincides with those of Argentina and Chile. Chilean ambassador in Buenos Aires Luis Maira Aguirre confirmed to the Argentine press that the "two ministries and the two embassies" were working on a joint and concerted position. However Argentine diplomatic sources were more cautious about the wording and preferred to talk about "cooperation" given that both neighbors are also disputing or have similar claims on the same areas of Antarctica.