
Argentina managed a first point in the diplomatic dispute with Spain over the nationalization of YPF when the IMF decided to call the conflict a “bilateral affair” and “a decision of a sovereign nation”.

The US government considers Argentine is obliged to submit its economic statistics to be validated by the IMF, and Washington will support all efforts from the multilateral organization so that the objective can be achieved.

In the this 30th anniversary year of the armed conflict between British and Argentine forces it is not surprising that we have seen, and will continue to see, increased numbers of veterans from both sides arriving in the Falkland Islands.

The government of President Cristina Fernandez is “not concerned” about the escalade of international criticism following the announced nationalization of the oil company YPF, and rules “thinking in Argentina not in Spain or the US”, said two cabinet members.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos welcomed Spanish corporations and guaranteed his visiting Spanish peer Mariano Rajoy that in Colombia there will be no surprises because the country follows the rules of the game: “President Rajoy: here we don’t expropriate”.

Spain will discuss a joint response with the United States to Argentina‘s forced nationalization of the YPF oil company, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said on Thursday.

Argentina's government said on Thursday that it had agreed with France's Total to work together to boost natural gas output by 2 million cubic metres per day at two Patagonian fields where YPF – which is being nationalized – also has a stake.

Argentina's move to nationalize local oil company YPF, controlled by Spain's Repsol, was strongly criticized by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé.

“You build history the way you can, not the way you want”, said Argentine president Cristina Fernandez during an official ceremony in which she referred to the “recovery” of the country’s main oil and gas corporation YPF, in the midst of the dispute with Spain’s Repsol.

Argentina will seize natural-gas producer YPF Gas SA as part of plans to boost control of its natural resources and increase production, two days after seizing oil producer YPF SA.