Argentina asks UK to resume negotiations over Falklands

BUENOS AIRES  (Reuters) – The Argentine government has again asked the United Kingdom to restart negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, the Argentine Foreign Ministry said.

The request to resume talks is the latest chapter in Argentina’s long-held claim over the British-run islands, which included the 1982 war. The islands are located in the South Atlantic about 600 kilometers from the Argentine mainland.

Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero “formulated a proposal to restart negotiations for sovereignty over the Falklands Question” in a meeting with his British counterpart James Cleverly during a summit in India, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Argentine government also invited the UK to “hold a meeting to settle” the debate at the United Nations.

British foreign minister Cleverly responded in a tweet: “The Falkland Islands are British. Islanders have the right to decide their own future – they have chosen to remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory.”

A 2013 referendum on the islands, known as Las Islas Malvinas in Spanish, resulted in a 99.8% vote to remain British.