Argentina Urges UK to Move Negotiations on Falkland Islands to UN - Foreign Ministry

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Argentina has asked the United Kingdom to transfer the issue of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas, to the agenda of the United Nations, the country's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

"[Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago] Cafiero informed [UK Foreign Secretary James] Cleverly that the Argentine government is terminating the joint statement of September 13, 2016, known as the Foradori-Duncan pact," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"In addition, the Argentine top diplomat proposed to resume negotiations on the sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands and offered to hold a meeting to outline the agenda for negotiations at the UN platform in New York."

According to the ministry, the Foradori-Duncan pact is incompatible with the UN General Assembly resolution, which recommends that both parties refrain from making decisions that entail unilateral changes in the dispute over the islands' sovereignty.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly responded to Argentina's request regarding the Falkland Islands by saying that these are a self-governing territory of the United Kingdom.

"The Falkland Islands are British," the secretary tweeted, adding that "islanders have the right to decide their own future - they have chosen to remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory."

There is a long-standing dispute between Argentina and the UK concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. In 1982, a war broke out between the countries, which lasted several weeks and ended with the defeat of the Latin American country.

The Foradori-Duncan pact was concluded in 2016 following the talks between Argentine Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Foradori and his British counterpart, Alan Duncan. The joint statement spoke of the possibility of direct flights between the Falkland Islands and third countries with a transfer to Argentina.

The document, which did not make it through the Argentine Congress, also indicated that the governments at the time of President Mauricio Macri and UK Prime Minister Theresa May planned to strengthen the economic growth and development of the Falklands, including trade, fishing, navigation, and hydrocarbon production.

In 2019, a lawsuit was filed against Macri for handing the Falkland Islands' airspace to the UK government. In a memoir released last year, Duncan said that Foradori was drunk while negotiating the pact.