- Argentine foreign ministry said claim to the islands is a ‘unwaverable objective’
Lord Cameron will meet Argentina’s new president Javier Milei tomorrow for their first bilateral meeting.
Argentina’s foreign minister Diana Mondino is also set to join the Foreign Secretary and the leader for their encounter at the Davos summit in Switzerland.
Argentinian presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni confirmed today the meeting would take place, which was initially thought to have been scheduled only between Lord Cameron and his counterpart from the South American nation.
It is not yet clear whether the Falkland Islands will be on the agenda.
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said in a long statement following right-wing Milei’s landslide victory in the nation’s presidential run-off in November that its claim to the islands constituted a ‘permanent and unwaverable objective.’
As president-elect Milei insisted he believed the Falkland Islands belonged to Argentina (file image)
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron will meet Argentina’s new president Javier Milei tomorrow. Pictured: Foreign Secretary David Cameron departs 10 Downing Street following a cabinet meeting in London, Britain, 16 January 2024
As the country’s president-elect Milei insisted he believed the Falkland Islands belonged to Argentina, but said the islanders must have a say in their future.
PM Rishi Sunak responded by saying through a spokesman: ‘It’s obviously a settled issue, a long-settled issue, and we have no plans to revisit it.’
And Defence Secretary Grant Shapps went on to rebuke any notion of negotiations with Argentina by saying: ‘The Falkland Islands are British. That is non-negotiable and undeniable.’
Respected Argentinian daily Clarin claimed today Lord Cameron asked Milei for a meeting in a WhatsApp he sent him as he was on his way to Davos.
Rival paper La Nacion said the issue of the Falklands, which in Argentina are known as the Malvinas, would be ‘on the table’ along with the economy.
Milei said the islanders must have a say in their future. Pictured: Farm buildings at Carcass Island Settlement in the Falkland Islands
Downing Street confirmed late last week Rishi Sunak would not be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos for the second year in a row.
Lord Cameron met former Argentinian president Mauricio Macri at the summit in 2016 when he was still Prime Minister.
