Argentina announces agreement with Britain on Falklands due to US sanctions: Swiss company Solway closes operations in Guatemala

Argentina has withdrawn a common position with Britain over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).

The South American country is withdrawing from the so-called Foradori-Duncan pact, Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero announced on Thursday after a meeting with his British counterpart James Cleverly at the G20 meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi. The Argentine government wants to renegotiate the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and is therefore proposing a meeting with British representatives at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The so-called Foradori-Duncan Pact is a 2016 joint statement governing gas and oil production, as well as shipping and fishing around the Falkland Islands. From the point of view of the current Argentine government, the previous government had gone too far to accommodate Britain.

The Falkland Islands have been under British administration since 1833. Argentina occupied the islands in 1982 and the British retook them in a 72-day war. Argentina still claims the islands, which are called Malvinas in Spanish, derived from the French St. Malo, the place of origin of the first settlers.

The UN Committee on Decolonization has passed a resolution calling on Britain and Argentina to negotiate. In 2013, the islanders voted by a large majority to remain with Britain. After the discovery of oil and gas deposits around the islands, the conflict has intensified again. (aeg/sda/dpa)