MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina and UK agree on the need to identify areas of cooperation in the South Atlantic

Ministers expressed their positions on the Malvinas question and coincided that disagreement should not be an obstacle for developing a more ample agenda.

Argentina and UK agreed to disagree on the Falklands/Malvinas question, but coincided that the issue should not be an obstacle for the development of a wider positive agenda. Furthermore the two countries agreed on the need to identify possible areas of cooperation in the South Atlantic, such as exploitation of natural resources, and connectivity between the continent and the Islands.

 The announcement is part of the official release from Argentina's foreign ministry following on Thursday's morning meeting in London of foreign minister Susana Malcorra and foreign secretary Philip Hammond, during the first bilateral work meeting at this level in over fourteen years.

The meeting was on the sidelines of the Anti/Corruption summit in which Argentina and UK, and other participating countries, agreed on a global plan to cooperate in measures and institutional improvements needed to eliminate corruption which hinders economic growth and development.

“Both ministers expressed their countries' positions in respect of the Malvinas question and coincided that disagreement on the issue should not be an obstacle for the development of a more ample positive agenda. They expressed the necessity to identify possible areas of cooperation in the South Atlantic such as the exploitation of natural resources and connectivity between the continent and the Islands. Antarctic cooperation was also emphasized”.

Each side then presented their differences in some issues which does not impede to identify areas of joint work, wherever possible. Among priority issues were the promotion and qualitative and quantitative increase of trade and investments, cooperation in science and technology, fighting organized crime, with special emphasis on drugs, institutional cooperation and the promotion of tourism, as well as exchanges in culture, education and sports fields. The ministers underlined the significance of the Argentine community in the UK, particularly its contributions in professional and academic circles.

In the great spirit of cordiality, friendliness and expectations generated in democratic countries by the changes that have taken place in Argentina, the two sides addressed an agenda based on mutual respect and complementarity, with a positive focus which included an important number of issues of bilateral interest

In the framework of policies that guided these discussions was the need to give concrete shape to the three great objectives established by president Mauricio Macri: zero poverty, fighting the drug trade and institutional development that enables the union of all Argentines, with which the British government expressed its full support.

The Argentine delegation also included Fulvio Pompeo, the president's Strategic Affairs Secretary, and Argentine ambassador in UK, Carlos Sersale di Cerisano. Foreign secretary Hammond attended with Minister of State for Latin America, Hugo Swire, concluded the official foreign ministry release on Thursday meeting.