MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina continental shelf claim “on time for May 2009”

Puerto Deseado dock in Mar del Plata during the last week end

Argentina ratified this week that it will present on time (May 2009) continental shelf claims before the United Nations Continental Shelf Limits Commission as stipulated under the Law of the Sea. Argentine officials also denied Britain allegedly was trying to extend its continental shelf westerly from the Falkland Islands towards Tierra del Fuego.

"Argentina has been working for over ten years on this presentation referred to the outer limits of the continental shelf as contemplated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea", said Eduardo Airaldi, who is responsible for the Malvinas and South Atlantic desk in the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry. Airaldi said that "according to Bill 24.815 from 1997, a National Committee on the outer limits of the continental shelf (COPLA) was created chaired by the Foreign Affairs ministry which has organized several scientific data collection cruises, similar to the one began by the Argentine Navy scientific vessel "Puerto Deseado" to help us finish the drafting of the Argentine proposal to be presented before the UN Limits Commission". The Argentine Foreign Affairs was forced to come out publicly because of insistent rumors that Argentina was being negligent and would not meet the May 2009 deadline. "It's not good to disseminate information not based on facts. The truth is the Argentine government is working responsibly and has a timetable to wrap up all the reports and studies on time for the presentation of May 2009", he insisted. The presentation with data on continental shelf claims will include the Argentine Antarctic sector, Islas Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands "because they are integral part of Argentine territory". When Mr. Airaldi was asked if Britain had made a presentation claiming the continental shelf of the Falklands, he said that "no outer limits presentation of the pretended continental shelf of the Malvinas or any other national insular territory has been done (by the UK)". Procedure rules from the Continental Shelf Limits Commission, in the framework of the Law of the Sea, clearly establish that no presentations will be considered or qualified when territories are under dispute. The UN General Assembly and the UN Decolonization Committee recognize the existence of a sovereignty dispute over the South Atlantic islands.