MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina demands Falklands Islands talks

Pte. CFK shakes hand with PM Brown

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Saturday asked Prime Minister Gordon Brown for negotiations over sovereignty of the disputed Falkland Islands, a day after he said he would not discuss the issue.

Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana told reporters Fernandez raised the issue at a bilateral meeting during a pre-G20 warm-up meeting of centre-left leaders in the Chilean coastal resort of Vina del Mar on Saturday.

The president stated with great clarity and firmness the need for the United Kingdom to do what the United Nations has asked and to hold talks to find a solution to a sovereignty conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Malvinas,” Taiana said, referring to the Spanish name for the islands in the South Atlantic.

Brown had said on Friday the sovereignty issue was not up for discussion. Britain seized back the islands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish, in a 1982 war after they were occupied by Argentine forces. Some 649 Argentines and 255 British troops died. (Reuters)