Falkland Islands governor Nigel Haywood said that the “Islanders will reply in next month’s referendum” whether Argentina could be in control of the Malvinas archipelago ‘within twenty years’, as was announced by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman earlier this week in London.
The Falkland Islands are an British Overseas Territory by choice, entirely self-governing except for defence and foreign affairs and have been settled for at least nine generations, well before Argentina even claimed what is today Tierra del Fuego, points out the Falklands’ elected government in a release-reply to the open letter from Argentine President Cristina Fernandez published on Thursday in the British press.
The Foreign Secretary announced on Tuesday that the southern part of British Antarctic Territory has been named Queen Elizabeth Land.
Leaders of British Overseas Territories, including Falkland Islands Member of Legislative Assembly Jan Cheek met with the British Prime Minister at Number 10 Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon.
Gibraltar Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo held a meeting on Monday with UK Minister for Europe David Lidington in which they discussed their concerns over Spain’s purporting to pass legislation banning land reclamation and the offshore storage of fuel in Gibraltar waters.
The Joint Ministerial Council met for the first time on Tuesday bringing together political leaders from the Overseas Territories and UK Ministers to work together on several issues including strengthening economies and the environment.The Falklands government is represented by members of the Legislative Assembly Jan Cheek and Sharon Halford.
Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell has written to the London representatives of British Overseas Territories to alert them to what he sees as a shortfall in a new report on the future of the Commonwealth.
Argentina has started a major diplomatic campaign in an attempt to deny success to the Falkland Islands March referendum on its nationals’ political status, fearing the negative international repercussions for its sovereignty claims over the disputed Islands.
The Falkland Islands government complained on Tuesday that the Chairman of the UN Decolonization Committee, Ambassador Diego Morejón Pazmiño is not acting with the impartiality that his role demands and revealed a letter, which remains unanswered, inviting the ambassador to visit the Falklands matching his informative trip to Argentina on the sovereignty of the Islands dispute.
A top official from St Helena will be visiting the Falkland Islands next month to explore ways that the governments of the two British Overseas Territories can collaborate and looking ahead to when the mid Atlantic volcanic island will have an international airport.