March 2, 2023

Argentina notified the United Kingdom on Thursday of the decision to end a 2016 bilateral pact in relation to the Malvinas Islands, in a measure considered “disappointing” by the British authorities.

The chancellor Santiago Cafiero notified the British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, that Argentina terminated the Joint Communiqué of September 13, 2016, known as “Foradori-Duncan“, during a meeting between the two diplomats, on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers Summit in New Delhi, India.

On the other hand the The Argentine government has proposed to resume negotiations on the issue of sovereignty and for this he promotes a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York, “Cafiero specified on his Twitter account.

The chancellor said that He proposed “an agenda of issues that, at least, must be part of the negotiation process that we promote.”

“In this way, Argentina complies with the mandate of the General Assembly and the United Nations Decolonization Committee,” he pointed out.

He The United Kingdom expressed its disappointment following the Argentine announcement and rejected the invitation to resume negotiations on the sovereignty of the islands.

“The Falklands are British,” said the British foreign minister

“The Falklands are British,” Cleverly replied dryly in a tweet. The islanders, he added, “have the right to decide their own future and have chosen to remain a British Overseas Territory.”

What the “Foradori-Duncan” pact implies

The pact known as “Foradori-Duncan” was signed in 2016, during the government of former President Mauricio Macri by the then Vice Chancellor Carlos Foradori and the English Minister of State for Europe and the Americas Alan Duncan.

in that document the two countries admitted their differences on sovereignty but agreed to cooperate in the energy, maritime transport and fishing sectors, as well as in the identification of the remains of the Argentine soldiers who fell in the Malvinas war in 1982.

He The current government of Alberto Fernández, of a different political sign, considered it “harmful” for the historic Argentine claim for sovereignty in the Malvinas Islands, a diplomatic source told AFP.

He pact “made concessions to British interests regarding the exploitation of Argentine natural resources in the region and regressed notably in the just claim for sovereignty, in addition to authorizing air connections between the islands and third countries,” said the source who requested anonymity.

In addition, that agreement took the form of a “joint communiqué”, so the approval of the Argentine Congress, mandatory for international agreements, was not necessary.

The note delivered by Cafiero to Cleverly states that “Argentina has sought to collaborate on specific issues such as flights, scientific activity in Antarctica or conservation and preservation of fishing resources, ‘without the willingness shown by Argentina having been reciprocally responded to. by his government’”, said a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
«The United Kingdom has continuously carried out unilateral acts, which have been opportunely and duly protested by the Argentine Republic. Throughout this time, the British Government has systematically refused to resume the sovereignty negotiations that the United Nations repeatedly urges, “says the official note.
Argentina, under a military dictatorship, and Great Britain fought a war in 1982 over the sovereignty of the islands. After 74 days of fighting that left 649 Argentines and 255 British dead, London retook control of the South Atlantic archipelago it has occupied since 1833.
Forty years later, the claim for the sovereignty of the Malvinas is renewed and unifies the Argentines for whom the war continues to be an open wound.
The UK is seeking to weigh in on the result of a 2013 referendum, when the vast majority of the islands’ 2,000 people voted to remain under British control, an argument they use to ignore a 1965 United Nations resolution calling on both countries to negotiate sovereignty.