Lucía Cholakian Herrera 
Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero told his UK counterpart James Cleverly today that Argentina will terminate the “Foradori-Duncan” treaty that both countries signed in March 2016. It included cooperation agreements regarding the Malvinas Islands (which the UK refers to as the Falkland Islands, although this name is strongly contested by Argentina).
Cafiero handed Cleverly a formal written note announcing the move during the G20 Foreign Minister Summit in New Delhi, India.
The Foradori-Duncan agreement, named after the Argentine and UK signatories Carlos Foradori and Alan Duncan, sought to “improve the bilateral relations” and “remove the obstacles that delayed the development of the Malvinas islands.” The agreement was reached under former UK Prime Minister Theresa May and former Argentine president Mauricio Macri.
“The [Foradori-Duncan] agreement shut down and washed off any discussion about sovereignty,” said Camila Bonetti, spokesperson for the Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Secretariat, and a Malvinas academic researcher.
“It only made concessions regarding resource exploitation on the islands and our waters.”
The formal note said that Argentina has “sought to cooperate in specific matters like flights, scientific activity in Antarctica, conservation and preservation of fishing resources” but those efforts were not reciprocated by the UK.
On the contrary, the government believes that the UK has worked ‘unilaterally’ and has refused to reopen the negotiations over the sovereignty of the islands, which have been requested by the United Nations ‘several times’.
In November 2022, the UK and Mauritius started open talks about the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago, which has been occupied by British and United States military forces since 1960 following the displacement of its native inhabitants. Despite the cases bearing several differences, the Argentine government hopes for a similar gesture regarding the Malvinas islands.
In addition to shutting down the Foradori-Duncan agreement, Argentina asked the UK for a meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York City to renew talks regarding sovereignty. The Foreign Minister is also expected to bring up the issue at the UN Special Committee on Decolonization in June and the General Assembly in September.
The Herald contacted the British Embassy for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply.
