On the Day for the Affirmation of Argentina´s Rights over the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, President Alberto Fernández pointed out that “we are once again recovering the collective memory to preserve the rights that Argentina has on the Malvinas ”and considered that“ every day we must work to recover that territory ”.
On the Day for the Affirmation of Argentina´s Rights over the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, President Alberto Fernández pointed out that “we are once again recovering the collective memory to preserve the rights that Argentina has on the Malvinas ”and considered that“ every day we must work to recover that territory ”.
During the commemoration, held on June 10th at the Casa Rosada Bicentennial Museum, the Head of State announced the call for Research and Technological Development Projects Oriented (PICTO) to the maritime sector of Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic, aimed members of the scientific community to present their proposals, within the framework of the reactivated “Pampa Azul” program.
The President stressed that Malvinas "is a huge pain for all of us because we do not have them and we know that they are part of our territory" and assured that "diplomacy is what should lead us to recover those lands."
Recalling the 1982 South Atlantic conflict with the United Kingdom, he stressed that “unfortunately this result hurts us all, but in no way does it tarnish the heroic deed of those who were there, the heroism of those who fought, including General Balza, and of many others who left their lives fighting for a claim that is undoubtedly legitimate ”.
The president attributed the occupation of the Islands to economic and military reasons and asserted that "someone settled there, usurping Argentine lands and therefore the claim must be permanent in the daily life of Argentines because we are dismembered."
Present at the ceremony were the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Roberto Salvarezza; the Minister of Foreign Relations, International Trade and Worship, Felipe Solá; the Secretary for Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic of the Foreign Ministry, Daniel Filmus; the head of the MCTI Advisory Cabinet Unit, Carolina Vera; the national senator and former chancellor Jorge Taiana; the Malvinas veteran, General Martín Balza; other authorities, legislators and ex-combatants.
Secretary Filmus emphasized that “the British entered the Malvinas in 1833 to take away the wealth that was there, and they are still on the islands, 200 years later, due to their natural resources like fishing and hydrocarbons and due to the geopolitical importance of both access to Antarctica as to the bi-oceanic corridor ”.
Meanwhile, Salvarezza described Pampa Azul project as "strategic" and said that it aims "at the sustainable development of the Argentine Sea and the deployment of all the industries that accompany this activity and does so from knowledge, from applied scientific and technological research to that sea ”.
The PICTOs are intended to generate new knowledge in science and technology areas of interest to a partner willing to co-finance them and within this framework, the call will be between the R + D + i Agency and the Secretariat of Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic, that will have to establish the general profile and integrate the Advisory Council that will supervise the process and will establish the thematic axes.
