MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cristina Kirchner and PM Brown to hold bilateral meeting in Chile

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be holding a bilateral meeting next March 27th in Viña del Mar, Chile during the progressive leaders’ forum and most probably the Falklands/Malvinas claim issue will be on the table, according to reports in Buenos Aires daily La Nación.

The meeting should help put an end to the stand-off with London over the coming G-20 financial summit to be hosted by PM Brown precisely on April 2nd, a sacred date in the Argentine Malvinas war calendar, when Argentine diplomacy was considering the possibility of making a presentation of the bilateral dispute before the world leaders, which sent shivers down the back of the Foreign Office.

According to La Nacion quoting reliable Argentine diplomatic sources the meeting in Chile has been agreed, although at the British embassy in Buenos Aires the news was not confirmed or denied since PM Brown’s agenda is “not available with such anticipation”.

La Nacion points out that the Viña del Mar summit is the ideal stage for President Cristina Kirchner to discuss the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty claim with PM Brown since it would avoid the bilateral dispute to spoil the G-20 meeting in London, just a few days later.

Nevertheless Mrs. Kirchner will be leading the commemorative ceremony of the 27th anniversary landing of Argentine forces in the Falklands on April 2nd 1982 at the Argentine embassy in London. La Nacion insists the Argentine diplomatic strategy was confirmed by two high government sources working close to Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana who is personally involved in the talks.

Since taking office on December 2007, Mrs. Kirchner has been longing for a bilateral meeting with PM Brown to talk about the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute, but for different reasons (mainly the conflict with Argentine farmers) several attempts never materialized.

Her husband, then president Nestor Kirchner, managed to address the issue with former PM Tony Blair in 2003 a few weeks after taking office. Coming from the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz and nicknamed “the penguins” the Kirchner couple and their team have made the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute a personal issue.

La Nacion also reveals that at certain point the Foreign Office considered changing the date of the G-20 summit to avoid the embarrassment of the Argentine presentation, but the idea was discarded because of US President Barack Obama’s tight agenda.

On Tuesday at a meeting with the Argentine press at the British Embassy, ambassador Shan Morgan emphasized the significance of the coming G-20 summit to address the global financial crisis and read a message from Foreign Secretary David Milliband which underlined the coincidences with Argentina regarding the need to reformulate the world multilateral credit organizations.

“The current global economic crisis and how we resolve it demands detailed discussion on our agenda. At the London Summit on 2 April, we will look to secure international agreement - the Global New Deal - on a range of issues which will help to restore the global economy and create an environment which stimulates growth and creates jobs. Argentina, as a member of the G 20 and one of the leading emerging economies, plays a key role in this debate”, said the UK ambassador.

“Argentina and Britain are in agreement on a wide range of issues, from IMF reform to tax havens. We think there are great chances for the London Summit to achieve very good results for the global economy”, added Ms Shan Morgan.

In this context, “I am pleased to say that our work with the Argentine Government has been excellent. Argentina has taken part in all four working groups, with valuable contributions”.

Argentina, together with Brazil and Mexico will represent Latinamerica in the London summit.

However Ms. Morgan also warned about the negative consequences of protectionism for world trade, precisely when Argentina has begun to implement measures to limit imports from Brazil and China.

“Protectionism, exchange rates, all-national procurement are policies with negative effects on neighbouring countries, even if they have the advantage of protecting employment at home. If we all implement such policies, we will have a problem” she said.

“This is why the G20 Summit is focused on “Jobs, Stability and Growth”. A major part of the G20 Summit will deal with policy co-ordination so that the rescue of one country will not mean the sinking of another”.