Argentina has withdrawn from a joint position with the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands. Instead, the Argentines want to renegotiate the sovereignty of the Falklands and are proposing a meeting with the British at UN headquarters in New York.

Argentina’s foreign minister, Santiago Cafiero, announced after a meeting with his British counterpart James Cleverly on the sidelines of the G20 that the South American country is withdrawing from the so-called Foradori-Duncan pact from 2016.

The Foradori-Duncan Pact regulates gas and oil extraction, shipping and fishing around the islands. However, the current government in Buenos Aires believes that their predecessors, London, had made too many concessions within that pact.

Since 1833, the Malvinas, as they are called in Argentina and which are more than 600 kilometres from the Argentine coast, has been under British rule. In 1982, the Falklands War came after Argentina invaded the islands. The Argentines suffered several defeats, and a truce was reached after 72 days. Nevertheless, Argentina continues to claim the islands.