MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands’ dispute: Argentina sends diplomatic reply to latest UK note verbale

Victorio Tacetti said Argentina will continue to mobilize “international pressure”

Argentina’s Deputy Foreign Minister Victorio Tacetti confirmed on Friday there is a formal presentation on the way in reply to the note verbale from the British government to the Argentine presidency in which restrictions applied to all Falklands-Malvinas-bound maritime transit are rejected.

“The British position is more of the same, but a diplomatic response is on the way” revealed Mr. Tacetti interviewed by a radio in Buenos Aires.

In the Foreign Office note verbale delivered to the official in charge of the Argentine embassy in London, Britain rejects the Argentine Government's decision to impose restrictions on all Falklands/Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich-bound ships, which were implemented after several British companies started a round of oil exploration in Falklands’ waters.

The diplomat said oil drilling around the Islands “doesn't help negotiations because if the Islands turn to be an income source the British will defend them even more vehemently”. He added that if defending the Falklands was only a matter of prestige for the British and it cost them money, “the discovery of oil further complicates the issue”.

However Deputy Foreign Minister Tacetti considered the British position to be “pragmatic, not ideological.”

Regarding the British note Tacetti regretted that “Great Britain rejects all sorts of dialogue,” and added that the Argentine response will “vindicate the country's position regarding the Islands sovereignty.”

While at the EU-Latinamerica-Caribbean leaders’ summit in Madrid this week, President Cristina Kirchner told British Prime Minister David Cameron that “she would insist on the importance of complying with the UN resolutions” after he had pointed out the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty was “nonnegotiable”.

Tacetti advanced that the Argentine policy of taking the Malvinas issue to all possible international forums would continue and “at some point under international pressure it is going to become shameful to be against bilateral discussions as recommended by the UN and other multilateral organizations”

“Our objective is for that consensus to keep growing. These are not one-day policies, we’ve been on this for years and we will continue, and have no doubts that finally we are going to reach our goal, but we must be patient”, added Tacetti.

Argentina has repeatedly presented its sovereignty claims over the Falklands and other South Atlantic islands before the United Nations, Organization of American States, Unasur, Mercosur and has even requested Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to encourage discussions on the issue between Buenos Aires and London.

However the new Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition since taking office earlier this month has confirmed and on several occasions British policy regarding the Falkland Islands and the right of Islanders to develop their own oil industry.

“We have no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. The principle of self determination as set out in the UN charter applies. There cannot be negotiation on sovereignty unless and until the Falkland Islanders so wish”, said Jeremy Browne Foreign Office minister for Latinamerican affairs.

He added that “the Lisbon Treaty clearly reaffirms the EU position that the Falkland Islands is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom”.