Falkland Islands lawmakers met on Wednesday morning with Foreign Secretary William Hague and regretted the absence of Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman but also understand Argentina’s deep concern with “our (March) referendum, which is why they spend so much time dismissing it”.
Foreign Minister Timerman can go to bed tonight and dream of owning the Falklands in twenty years if he wishes, but there’s not much reality to it, pointed out a Falklands’ lawmaker reacting to the Argentine minister’s statements on Tuesday to the UK media.
Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman dismissed another attempt by Falkland Islands representatives to engage in dialogue and refused to accept a letter addressed to him and a newly published booklet on the Falklands History.
British Chancellor George Osborne has announced the Banking Reform Bill that will not only see savers’ deposits safeguarded but also enforce rules to make it easier for consumers to switch bank accounts.
The Falklands Islands will be under Argentine control within 20 years, Minister Hector Timerman said in an interview with The Guardian and The Independent in London insisting that not one single country in the world supports the UK governing the Falklands.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday that he continues ‘open’ to a meeting with his peer from Argentina, Hector Timerman, although he insisted that if the talks refer to Falklands’ issues, representatives from the Islands should be present.
Foreign minister Hector Timerman is in London and has reiterated his request and willingness to hold a bilateral meeting with Foreign Secretary William Hague, “the two alone, to address numerous issues of the bilateral and multilateral agenda”, says a letter from Argentine Ambassador Alicia Castro dated February 4 addressed to the Foreign Office and made public in Buenos Aires.
The Foreign Office has reiterated its concern about the Argentine’s government behaviour towards the Falkland Islanders and considers it ‘right and proper’ that they should be involved in the part of those meetings with Argentina that concern the Islands.
Argentine Foreign minister Hector Timerman begins Monday a busy ‘Malvinas’ week in London with meetings scheduled in Parliament and later at the embassy with representatives from 18 different European groups that support UK/Argentina dialogue on the Falklands’ sovereignty
The British government’s decision to deny a meeting between UK and Argentina foreign ministers is proof of “weakness” and evidence of “the internal crisis situation” in the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister David Cameron, said Argentine Foreign minister Hector Timerman.