MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Chamber of Commerce backs the Punta Arenas route despite Argentine warnings

“Now we need to see this continue and see the ship at sea heading to the islands, and then we can start to talk about it being a success. Success comes when the goods arrive,” Summers said

The president of the Falkland Islands Chamber of Commerce, Mike Summers, has defended reopening trade with Chile's Magallanes region despite Argentina's campaign against economic activity linked to the archipelago, and warned that this week's business meeting in Punta Arenas will only be a success once cargo starts crossing the sea.

“Now we need to see this continue and see the ship at sea heading to the islands, and then we can start to talk about it being a success. Success comes when the goods arrive,” Summers said in an interview with the Chilean newspaper La Prensa Austral. He said the interest shown by Magallanes companies had exceeded the delegation's expectations, with opportunities concentrated in construction, agricultural fodder, hospitality and tourism. For the sea link to be viable, he added, there will need to be “an adequate supply of business in both directions”.

Asked about the arbitration announced by Argentine President Javier Milei and about warnings from Tierra del Fuego to those trading with the islands, Summers avoided confrontation. “We have heard this for many, many years,” he said. “We will keep talking about the opportunities and trading with southern Chile as long as it is possible to do so. If it is no longer possible, we will have to find other ways.” He noted that supply lines from northern Europe are currently “very long” and that “it makes sense” to trade with “our friendly neighbours”. If Chilean companies had concerns, he said, “they will say so and decline”, though his experience this week had been the opposite.

Summers, born in Stanley in 1952, headed the Falkland Islands Development Corporation from 1989 to 1996 and spent two decades as a member of the Legislative Assembly, leaving in 2017.

The meeting, held on September 28 and 29, brought together some 60 Magallanes companies and 32 companies and organisations from the archipelago, with 822 business meetings. Chilean shipping company Easter Island Naviera plans to launch a direct route between Punta Arenas and Stanley with a Chilean-flagged vessel between November and the end of the year. The Chilean government has called the initiative “a business between private parties”.