MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands/Malvinas issue to be debated at the Parlasur Parliament

The extraordinary session will have the special attendance of Argentine foreign minister Hector Timerman and his Uruguayan peer Luis Almagro

The Falklands/Malvinas dispute and 'colonialism' will be discussed on Monday during an extraordinary session of the Mercosur Parliament, Parlasur, in Montevideo with the attendance of Argentine and Uruguayan foreign ministers Hector Timerman and Luis Almagro.

 The two ministers will address the issue before representatives from the parliaments from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela in a debate that will also be attended by the Malvinas Forum, a group of intellectuals and political leaders from Uruguay that support the Argentine sovereignty claim over the South Atlantic Islands.

Besides Timerman other experts on the Falklands/Malvinas question from the Argentine foreign ministry, including the Secretary for Affairs Relative to Malvinas, Daniel Filmus will be attending.

“It's a session that had been agreed earlier this year, and in which the chair of Parlasur decided to include a reflection on the issue in its agenda”, said Ruben Martinez Huelmo, president of the House.

The Uruguayan lawmaker said that this was not the first time in which the Malvinas question is addressed in Parlasur, although it is the first extraordinary session specially dedicated to the issue and which takes place following the initiative from the chair.

Precisely last June Parlasur agreed to the creation of a sub-committee to study the Malvinas question more specifically.

“The purpose of these initiatives is to try and achieve the beginning of dialogue between the governments of Argentina and the UK as mandated by the United Nations and the international community, but to which the British have deaf ears”, added Martinez Huelmo.

Before the extraordinary session, the Parlasur will hold an ordinary meeting to address the 2015 budget as well as several agreements with Olade (Latin America and Caribbean Energy Organization) and the International Criminal Court, among other issues.

Argentina has insistently claimed the Falklands in all possible international forums as part of its diplomatic initiative, although the Falkland Islanders in the March 2013 referendum decided overwhelmingly to remain as a British Overseas Territory.