MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Timerman at the UN to deal with the Malvinas “anachronistic colonial issue”

The newly appointed minister at the swearing in ceremony

Argentina’s newly appointed Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman confirmed Tuesday he will be present next Thursday/Friday at the United Nations when the Decolonization Committee addresses the “anachronistic colonial issue of the Malvinas Islands”

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner led the swearing-in ceremony in which Timerman was officially appointed as the new Foreign Minister after Jorge Taiana tendered his resignation last Friday. Timerman had previously filled in the position of Argentine Ambassador to the United States.

The ceremony was held at the Government House (Casa Rosada) and among others present were former president and current UNASUR head Néstor Kirchner and ex minister Jorge Taiana.

When addressing the press for the first time after having been officially inaugurated, Timerman once more spoke on his upcoming trip to New York city on Thursday to deal with the Argentine claim of the Malvinas and other South Atlantic Islands. “In times of the Bicentenary, the country has to fight for colonialist issues”.

“The United Kingdom's colonialist policy in the Malvinas Islands is totally anachronistic in the 21st century due to the country's refusal to discuss the islands' sovereignty despite having been told by the UN to do so”, added Timerman.

Before being inaugurated Timerman was busy with several other issues. He insisted that “the alleged parallel Embassy in Caracas (Venezuela) only functions in some journalists' minds“. He emphasized that foreign policy is dictated by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner whom ”fully trusts those working in the Foreign Ministry“.

The Argentine congress is looking into the Venezuela bribes’ case, which has been strongly on the spotlight during the past days. A former ambassador in Caracas Eduardo Sadous had been summoned to a Lower House committee Tuesday and some of its members claimed Timerman had warned the diplomat about his responsibilities.

As regards to other points of the agenda Timerman made a strong reference to the Botnia issue, which holds Gualeguaychú people in a constant conflict. ”That is a priority, for Argentina-Uruguay relations are a priority,“ he stated. Timerman also added: ”The President wants this issue to be taken as an environmental monitoring example all over the world.“

He went deeper in the matter and specified that he is to ”seek the better path to go along with Uruguay.” And, as regards Brazil's participation in the monitoring, Timerman assured he is to discuss the issue with his Uruguayan counterpart, Celso Almagro.