Thursday, March 5, 2009

Chile, Argentina to strengthen Antarctic claims

Legislators from Chile and Argentina met on Thursday in order to prepare a common front against Britain over Antarctica.

Until this year, no country can have a claim to the continent yet offshore parts of the continent contain valuable and untapped oil and gas reserves. Therefore, eleven countries including Britain, Chile, and Argentina have made claims to portions of Antarctica. Making things more difficult to sort out is that parts of the claims of those three nations overlap.

The U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will give its decisions over the claims this May. In the meantime, Chile and Argentine legislators hope to strengthen their claims of sovereignty on Antarctica:
“This a historic milestone since it will be the first time members of Congress from both countries meet ahead of the bi-centenary celebration of 2010”, said Chilean deputy Carlos Abel Jarpa…

“We want to clearly signal the rights of Argentina and Chile over those vast frozen territories and adjoining platform”, said Argentine deputy Ruperto Godoy.
Image- Daily Mail
Online Sources- AP, MercoPress, WAND, the Latin Americanist, Reuters

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