About 40 businesspeople and officials from the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) opened a two-day trade forum in Punta Arenas, Chile, on Monday, as the islands' government and Chilean partners prepare to restart a direct monthly shipping route to Stanley. Argentina's foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, said on Tuesday that his government was monitoring the talks.
The service, run by a Chilean shipping company, is expected to make its first voyage in mid-November, according to Infobae and BAE Negocios, carrying mainly construction materials, fresh food and other supplies for the islands' roughly 3,600 residents on a vessel with 2,600 cubic metres of capacity. Punta Arenas lies about 900 kilometres from the islands, less than half the distance to Montevideo, the main supply route today. Infobae put the business expected from the new links at about US$20 million a year.
Louise Ellis, deputy director of economic development for the Falkland Islands Government, said the route had "nothing" to do with the Sea Lion oil project. "This project began before Sea Lion and has always been about what the Falkland Islands and our communities need now," she said, according to AFP.
"We have agreements in force with Chile and we expect them to respect those treaties, just as we respect them," Quirno told Radio La Red, according to Infobae and the Buenos Aires Times. He played down the role of Chile's national government: "What is happening here is the mayor of Punta Arenas, in any case, not the national government." In a separate interview with Infobae, he said Argentina's aim was "to prevent the exploration of non-renewable resources in the Malvinas while the underlying issue remains unresolved."
Quirno also dismissed remarks by Chile's defense minister, Fernando Barros, who said on Sunday that Chile supports Argentina's claim but that Britain has exercised sovereignty over the islands for 200 years and that the interests of the people involved should be respected. "The president's word outranks a minister's word. That's it, end of story," Quirno said. In a joint declaration signed in Santiago on September 3 by Milei and Chilean President José Antonio Kast, Chile committed to preventing logistical support for illegal fishing and hydrocarbon activity in disputed waters, La Nación has reported.
The forum comes as Argentina widens its campaign against economic activity linked to the islands, which already includes sanctions on 60 companies and individuals and a court order to halt the Sea Lion project. Britain has called that legal pressure on companies "unacceptable".
Argentina's two-week deadline for Britain to halt Sea Lion, announced on Monday, expires in mid-October, roughly a month before the first scheduled sailing from Punta Arenas.