British Foreign Secretary Accepts Argentina’s Invitation to Falklands Talks

Moscow, March 3 – British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, in response to the proposal of his Argentine counterpart, Santiago Cafiero, to resume negotiations on the ownership of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), said that they belong to the United Kingdom.

Earlier, the Argentine foreign minister suggested that the British side hold a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York to set the agenda for these negotiations.

“The Falklands are British. The people of the islands have the right to decide their own future – they have chosen to remain as a British Overseas Territory,” Cleverly said on his Twitter account.

In 2013, a referendum was held on the islands, as a result of which the overwhelming majority of the local population voted in favor of preserving the status of a British overseas territory. The Argentine government then stated that the result of the referendum would not affect Argentina’s territorial claims to the islands.

There has been a long-standing dispute between the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom regarding sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). In 1982, a war broke out between the two countries, which lasted for several weeks and ended in defeat for Buenos Aires.