MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina confirms continental shelf presentation May 09

Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana

Argentina announced that in May 2009 it will be making the official presentation of the outer boundaries of its continental shelf, (including the Falkland Islands) before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in the framework of the Law of the Sea.

"Our presentation will obviously include the Argentina Antarctic sector plus the Islas Malvinas, Georgia del Sur and Sandwich del Sur (under UK rule) since they are an integral part of Argentine territory", said Argentina's Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana in Buenos Aires. According to an official release from the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry "in May 2009 Argentina will make the presentation of the external boundaries of the continental shelf before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, a technical group created in the framework of the UN Sea of the Law convention". "It's important to underline that the task requires complex bathymetrical, geophysical, geologic and geodesic techniques. Field work is practically finished and actually we are involved in checking tasks", said Taiana during the inauguration of a seminar on the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea and the solution of controversies in Latinamerica. "The sea has an enormous quantity of resources and we must ensure our sovereignty and the sustainable use of those resources", added Taiana. According to Argentine press reports the country's Commission for the external limits has been developing for a long time scientific studies to support the presentation on the outer boundaries of the country's continental shelf.