
The government of the Falkland Islands has made a transfer of over 8 million pounds (£ 8.274 million) to the new Oil Development Reserve, a first step towards a ‘Sovereign Wealth Fund’ based on the Norwegian model it was explained at this week’s meeting of the Standing Finance Committee.

Monsanto the world’s biggest seed company agreed to waive two years of royalties on its Roundup Ready soybean seeds for Brazilian farmers who agree to forgo claims in a patent dispute.

Paraguay’s health authorities have reported that sixteen people have died of dengue disease since the beginning of the year, ten directly infected and the other six as a consequence of other complications.

Brazilian and European leaders called on Thursday for the speedy conclusion of a free trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. The call for action was made as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff hosted European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Brazil’s powerful manufacturers’ lobby openly criticized the “illegal barriers” imposed by the government of President Cristina Fernandez on Brazilian produce, and also lashed at President Dilma Rousseff for her administration’s “permissive attitude” towards Buenos Aires, a position that has “paralyzed Mercosur”.

Banco Santander chairman Emilio Botin denied this week that he is selling his company’s assets in Brazil and said his bank is only interested in “buying” in Latinamerica’s leading economy.

Several European leaders among which the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and the head of EU diplomacy Catherine Ashton are touring several Latinamerican countries with the purpose of strengthening relations with a region in full development but which lately has been increasingly focused on China.

One of the leading New Zealand newspapers, The Dominion Post, has addressed the issue of the Falklands, the dispute with Argentina and the coming March referendum in an editorial “Islanders should decide their destiny”, which we kindly reproduce.

The European Union is the “most desired strategic partner” of Latinamerica, although with different intensity, according to a report from the International Prospective Institute, IPI, released on Monday in Madrid and ahead of the coming EU/CELAC summit in Santiago de Chile.

A temporary port for the oil industry to the east of the Falkland Islands capital is under consideration, but will be removed once a deep water modern permanent sea terminal is constructed in Port William, according to local officials.