MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine lawmakers bring up ‘Malvinas issue’ at Inter-Parliamentary Union

Atasanof, president of the Lower House Foreign Relations Committee

Argentine and British lawmakers held a bilateral meeting in the framework of the Inter Parliamentary Union 124th meeting which took place in Panama, according to Argentine sources.

The Argentine delegation was headed by Alfredo Atanasof, president of Lower House Foreign Relations committee, Senators Juan Carlos Romero and Deputy Horacio Quiroga and the issues addressed included bilateral trade relations, the current Mercosur/European Union negotiations and where each country stands, and the ‘Malvinas question”

The head of the delegation and Deputy for the province of Buenos Aires Atanasof made it a point “to emphasize that the UK must cease its unilateral hydrocarbons’ exploration activities to the north of the Malvinas Islands, on the Argentine continental platform, and in accordance with the several resolutions from the United Nations General Assembly and the Decolonisation Committee”.

The meeting in Panama City from April 15 to 20 centred debates on Parliamentary accountability: living up to peoples’ expectations; improving election monitoring and ensuring the smooth transition of power; transparency and accountability in the funding of political parties and election campaigns and strengthening democratic reform in emerging democracies, including North Africa and the Middle East.

The British Group of the IPU has Conservative MP Robert Walter as Chair; former Chair, Labour MP Rt Hon Ann Clwyd as Vice-Chair together with Conservative MP Mark Pritchard. Labour MP Mike Gapes, former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, is Treasurer of the group.