Buenos Aires: Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said that there has been progress in creating the conditions for Britain to discuss the ownership of the potentially oil-rich Falkland Islands.
"We are advancing towards creating political and diplomatic conditions so that finally the United Kingdom understands that it should comply with United Nations mandates and sit down to negotiate with Argentina," Taiana said in an interview with a Buenos Aires radio station on Thursday.
Taiana said that London "will have to follow" UN resolutions asking each country to start negotiations over the archipelago.
Britain has occupied the islands since 1833 and has said there is nothing to discus regarding sovereignty because the 3,000-odd islanders wish to remain British.
Argentina and Britain went to war over the South Atlantic Ocean islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, in 1982. Britain successfully reclaimed them following an Argentine military invasion, but Buenos Aires has never abandoned its ownership claim.
Argentina has increased its affirmations of sovereignty over the archipelago after a British firm began drilling for oil in Falklands waters in February.
Bureau Report
