Foreign Secretary William Hague begins Wednesday a two-day visit to Brazil which according to Brazilian sources will mark the beginning of a strategic dialogue between the two countries.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said that it is important to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Falkland Islands conflict, but aside from some sabre rattling from Argentina, the rest of Latin America is interested in trade and development.
This week William Hague becomes the first Foreign Secretary in six years to travel to Brazil. Hague was scheduled to visit Brazil last year, but was prevented by the swiftly-moving events of the Arab Spring and in that time Brazil overtook Britain to become the sixth largest economy in the world.
The Chilean Foreign Affairs ministry has been very busy doing a complete review of norms and of maritime traffic and international trade agreements in the event of what are considered growing pressures from Argentina to establish a sort of “regional blockade” against the Malvinas Islands, a UK Overseas Territory.
Bolivian president Evo Morales said the Malvinas Islands are Argentine and gave full support to his peer Cristina Fernandez siding with Mercosur in the dispute with the UK over the South Atlantic Islands sovereignty and the latest decision to bar all Falklands flagged vessels from regional ports.
The British government said it would resist any attempts to coerce the Falkland Islands through economic or other pressures, and revealed it is holding ‘productive discussions’ with Uruguay, Chile and Brazil to ensure trade and commercial links between the Islands and South America are not compromised by political declarations.
Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro spoke Friday on the phone with Foreign secretary William Hague for the first time since the Falklands/Malvinas’ flagged vessels controversy, but both sides apparently could only agree that the situation remains stalled according to brief statements
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague and Uruguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro will discuss the Falklands/Malvinas flagged vessels issue on Friday according to a release from the British embassy in Montevideo
Divisions over Europe within the British coalition government were exposed when David Cameron's deputy said an EU summit that ended with the prime minister deploying his veto was a bitter disappointment and bad for Britain.
Just a few days after the Conservative Popular Party swept into power in Spain, the British Government has underscored its long-standing assurance that it will not talk about Gibraltar’s sovereignty against the wishes of its people.