Argentina terminates Falkland Islands deal with Britain

Argentina has canceled a common position with Britain over the Falkland Islands. The South American country is withdrawing from the so-called Foradori-Duncan Pact, Argentinian Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero announced on Thursday after meeting his British colleague James Cleverly at the G-20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi. The Argentine government wants to negotiate again over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and is therefore proposing a meeting with British representatives at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Cleverly promptly countered: "The Falkland Islands are British," he wrote on Twitter. Locals have the right to decide their own future but have chosen to remain British Overseas Territory.

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

The Falkland Islands have been under British administration since 1833. In 1982 Argentina attacked the islands. After Argentina's armed forces suffered a series of defeats during the 72-day war, both sides signed an armistice. Argentina continues to lay claim to the islands, which are called "Islas Malvinas" there.

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

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