MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Any negotiations “must start from a position of trust” Falklands tells Argentina

MLA Rogers sceptical about any proposal to give Argentina control over access to the Falklands

Negotiations must start from a position of trust and “it is hard to trust a Government who so easily break their word, and who deny our right to exist as a people”, said Falklands lawmaker Roger Edwards in response to the announcement by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on direct air-links to the Falklands.

“Neither the Falklands’ or the British governments have had any approaches from Argentina on the Buenos Aires/Falklands air links proposal but what is clear is the context in which these remarks were made, against a backdrop of Argentine aggression and attempts to isolate the Falklands economically” underlined Member of the Legislative Assembly Edwards.

The Falklands MLA then went on to enumerate the list of Argentine aggressions from banning Falklands’ flagged vessels from regional ports to stopping fishing and other companies from holding interests in both the Falklands and Argentina, and just this week turning away cruise vessels for having visited the Falkland Islands.

“It is therefore very difficult not to be sceptical of any proposal that would in effect give Argentina control over access to our home”, added MLA Rogers.

Furthermore, if President Cristina Fernandez is serious about wanting to develop air links with the Falklands, “I hope Argentina will sit down with us and end their ban on charter flights to the Islands, and the restriction that limits the air link with Chile to one flight a week”.

Although the proposal made public to the Argentine congress on Thursday during the State of the Nation speech remains quite unclear, apparently the Cristina Fernandez administration wants to re-negotiate the 1999 three-sides agreement, replacing the current weekly Lan Chile flight to Punta Arenas by three weekly flights from Buenos Aires, but in Argentina’s flag carrier, Aerolineas Argentinas.

MLA Rogers said that the Argentine government claims to want to negotiate the 1999 Agreement which aimed originally to promote Falklands/Argentina co-operation in areas such as fish stocks and mineral resources, and saw the resumption of flights from South America.

However, “whilst we have upheld our side of the bargain, the Argentine Government has systematically reneged on each of its commitments. All that is left now from that original agreement are the flights from South America – which Argentina now wishes to revisit”, said MLA Rogers.

“It is clear negotiations must start from a position of trust, and it is hard to trust a Government who so easily break their word, and who deny the right of the Falklands to exist as a people”, resumed Rogers.