HC Deb 05 July 1995 vol 263 cc366-8
3. Mr. Jacques Arnold

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Britain's relations with Argentina. [30897]

Mr. Hurd

Our co-operation with Argentina has developed rapidly since we restored relations in 1990. Trade and investment are growing fast. Our exports have risen by 165 per cent. since 1991, and we have made agreements on visa abolition, air services, judicial co-operation against drug trafficking, investment promotion and fisheries.

We disagree over the Falklands and South Georgia. Argentina continues to assert her claim to sovereignty, and we remain firmly opposed to any discussion on sovereignty. The Falkland islanders want to remain British and we will continue to uphold their right of self-determination.

Following his recent election victory, President Menem will be inaugurated for a second four-year term next Saturday. We wish him well and look forward to strengthening our relations further on this basis.

Mr. Arnold

Is not President Menem to be commended for his initial courage in deciding to put the matter of the islands and the dispute between our two countries to one side under, as he said, an umbrella? Have we returned to the level of trade and investment enjoyed with Argentina before that dispute? What specific measures are we taking to strengthen further trade with that country, which is very much based on good will?

Mr. Hurd

I shall send my hon. Friend the comparative figures. We are certainly building up our trade fast and rebuilding those assets and investments in Argentina which, in fact, we had to sell to win two world wars. The British position in Argentina is being rebuilt fast. That certainly owes something to the policies of President Menem, as my hon. Friend said, and a good deal to the energy of British business men, including those working in the newly privatised utilities. We and Her Majesty's ambassador in Buenos Aires are doing our utmost to encourage that energy.

Mr. Tony Banks

Would I be correct in assuming that relations between Her Majesty's Government and the Argentines are considerably warmer than relations between Her Majesty's Government and the hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold)? I entirely support the rights of the Falkland islanders to remain British, but would it not be appropriate to encourage a limited amount of tourism between Argentina and the Falkland Islands?

Mr. Hurd

I think that that is something which the islanders have to work out for themselves. I have often told the Argentine Foreign Minister that I am not prepared to start leaning on the islanders about the question of contacts with Argentina. There has been some movement, an example of which is the small but very sensitive matter of Argentine next of kin visiting newly discovered war graves on Pebble island. It has been agreed that they will be able to stay the night there. Such movement may occur, but really it is something that islanders have to work out for themselves.

Mr. Wilkinson

May I pay my warm, personal tribute to my right hon. Friend's unfailing courtesy and professionalism, which is of the old, classical school, if I may say so?

Will my right hon. Friend use his influence to ensure that a Cabinet Minister attends the inauguration of President Menem—not least as an expression of good will—to maintain the momentum for the crucial oil and natural gas talks around the Falkland Islands?

Mr. Hurd

I am grateful to my hon. Friend—another invariably courteous critic. I would have liked, and I think that we would all have liked, a Cabinet Minister to attend President Menem's inauguration. That was in hand, but certain rearrangements have made it difficult to carry through. I am glad that Lady Trumpington will be going. She has proved herself a doughty and highly successful representative of this country on many such occasions.

Mr. Trimble

Is it realistic to work to strengthen relations with Argentina while it continues to seek to advance its territorial claim? Are we not in danger of repeating the mistake made before 1982 of making the Argentines think that our relations with them are more important than the Falkland Islands and thus encouraging an invasion? Should we not make it clear to Argentina that there cannot be strengthening of relations and developing of trade unless it adopts a more realistic attitude?

Mr. Hurd

No, we have taken a different course, and with the full approval of the islanders. The islanders need the agreements that we have struck with Argentina about fish and we are now seeking—we have not found it yet—a way of agreeing with Argentina on the exploitation of oil. Both those things are very much in the interests of the islanders if they can be achieved.

The policy that we have been following—I think that it has been very successful—is to say to the Argentines frequently and very clearly: "We do not agree about sovereignty. We are not prepared to discuss sovereignty, but if you are willing to put that aside, we will be perfectly willing to develop trade, investment and other contacts." The visit of the Duke of York last year and the visit of the president of the Argentine Senate this year are illustrations of the good working of this policy.