MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malvinas sovereignty question is a 'State objective', says Argentine deputy foreign minister

“Argentine diplomacy will do everything possible to search for a political consensus to help design a State strategy”, said Foradori

Malvinas Islands sovereignty claim is a “State objective”, and Argentine diplomacy “will do everything possible to reach a political consensus to design a State strategy” underlined Argentina's Deputy foreign minister Carlos Foradori during an open debate on the 50th anniversary of the UN General Assembly Resolution 2065

 The debate took place at the Argentine Senate Provinces' Hall on Tuesday as part of the commemorations of Resolution 2065, from 22 December 1965, which stated that there was a sovereignty dispute over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and called on Argentina and the UK to sit and discuss the issue.

“Argentine diplomacy will do everything possible to search for a political consensus to help design a State strategy”, said Foradori, who then added that reaching a dialogue with the US on the Malvinas question constitutes a “State objective”.

He added “this is not a question of ideologies, or political parties or tendencies, here there is a clear objective” and recalled that 66 heads of states have recognized Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands.

“Over a third of the world is already convinced, we have to convince the rest. It's not a task for a few, it's a task for all of us”, underlined Foradori.

The Senate speaker Federico Pinedo, who was also caretaker president for twelve hours on 10 December when Argentina's transfer incident between Cristina Fernandez and incoming Macri, said it was “regrettable to continue as victims of a colonialism situation” and emphasized that “the challenge is to find the path for the national interest to become reality”.

”The midterm objective is that the UK sits in good faith to negotiate, but the final objective is for London to recognize (Argentine) sovereignty“ insisted Senator Pinedo.

Another participant, Eduardo Valdés current Mercosur parliament member and former ambassador before the Vatican recalled the incident when Pope Francis had his picture taken holding a Malvinas poster which called on the UK to sit and discuss the issue. The NGO ”Dialogue for Malvinas“, which supposedly was behind the Pope's poster, was one of the organizers of Tuesday's open debate in the Senate.

”Parlasur (Mercosur parliament) is going to be a crucial tool, first for regional integration and also for the Malvinas question“ said Valdés who asked the Argentine government to take the issue to the European Union and insist on the UK to sit and dialogue.

”On Monday I listened to president Macri's speech on the need for a trade accord between Mercosur and the European Union, It would be good if that accord also calls on the EU to convince the UK to sit and dialogue“, he added.

Opposition Kirchnerite senator Juan Manuel Abal Medina recalled that UN Resolution 2065 was approved with 'not a single negative vote' and that even fifty years later ”UK refuses to discuss“ and abide by the negotiations call in the UN document.

The open debate was organized precisely by Senator Abal Medina and the NGO ”Dialogue with Malvinas”, on the half century of UN General Assembly Resolution 2065, which recognized the existence of a sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the UK over the Falklands/Malvinas and made a call to find a peaceful solution through bilateral negotiations and taking into account the interests of the Islands inhabitants.

It's interesting to note that the current deputy foreign minister, Foradori, is an academic from Macri's senior coalition ally, the Radicales, who completed graduate studies on public international policies and political science from Harvard and John Hopkins universities, besides being an expert in border and limits' issues. He joined Argentine diplomacy after going through the ministry's Foreign Service Institute with the highest qualifications.