During the 44th Annual Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held virtually, the Group of 77 and China adopted a Ministerial Declaration in support of the resumption of negotiations between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom on the Question of the Malvinas Islands and it once again recognized the right of our country to “take legal action” against “unauthorized hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation activities” in the archipelago area.
During the meeting, held on November 12, the G77 and China reaffirmed the need for Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume negotiations to find, as soon as possible, a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, in accordance with the principles and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations and the pertinent resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. Moreover, the Ministers thanked Argentina for its good disposition and willingness to carry out the negotiations related to this goal.
In a new display of support for the Argentine position in the dispute, the Ministers also reaffirmed the principle of territorial integrity enshrined in the General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), and highlighted the right of the Group's Member States to permanent sovereignty over its natural resources -including Argentina's right to take legal action against unauthorized hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation activities in the mentioned area- and recalled the need for both parties to refrain from making decisions that imply introducing unilateral changes in the situation while the islands go through the process recommended by the Assembly, in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 31/49.
The statement of the group, formed by 134 developing countries, is especially important considering that this year is the fifty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of United Nations General Assembly resolution 2065 - the first resolution that specifically refers to the Question - and also the bicentennial of the taking of possession and the first raising of the Argentine flag in the Malvinas Islands.
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Pablo Tettamanti, thanked the continued support of the Group of 77 and China and reiterated that the recovery of the full exercise of sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime spaces constitutes a permanent and non-renounceable mandate for Argentina.
“It is of enormous importance that the strong support of the G77 and China in the claim for Malvinas has now included a specific allusion to the unilateral activities of exploration and exploitation of renewable and non-renewable natural resources in illegally occupied Argentine maritime areas that, added to the continued British military presence in the South Atlantic, violates United Nations Resolutions and has raised expressions of concern and rejection from the international community”, said the Secretary of Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic of the Foreign Ministry, Daniel Filmus.
The section that the Declaration dedicates to the pandemic highlights the global impact on trade and supply chains, on debt sustainability, on capital outflows and currency depreciations, among other issues.
In that sense, calling for “a spirit of international cooperation and solidarity between peoples and States”, Tettamanti stated that “the potential impact of the current second wave of COVID-19 or a tightening of financial conditions could be devastating and lead to a wave of sovereign defaults that would affect not only developing countries, but would have an amplified impact”.
He also underlined the need for “a systemic change in the order of priorities, driven by a full commitment to multilateralism and the search for a fairer and more equitable international economic system” and that “the G77 should make a difference in the creation of a set of global economic rules that further support development”.
“A sovereign debt restructuring system is therefore a global public good. The world lacks it at the moment, and both developing and developed countries suffer the consequences”, added the Argentine representative.
