HC Deb 23 September 1971 vol 823 cc13-6W

Special conversations were continued in Buenos Aires from the 21st until the 30th of June, 1971, about communications and movement between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands by delegations of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the Argentine Republic, the former including participants from the Islands. The conversations were within the general framework of the negotiations recommended by Resolution No. 2065 (XX) of the General Assembly of the United Nations and in accordance with letters addressed to the Secretary-General of the Organisation by the Permanent Representatives of both countries on the 21st of November, 1969 and the 11th of December 1970.

The delegates concluded that, subject to the approval of their Governments, the following measures should be adopted on the understanding that they may contribute to the process of a definitive solution to the dispute between the two Governments over the Islands which is referred to in Resolution No. 2065 (XX) mentioned above.

  1. 1. In order to deal with questions which might arise over the setting up and promotion of communications between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands in both directions, including questions relating to the movement of persons, those which might arise for residents of the Islands while they were on the mainland and those concerning residents of the mainland while they were in the Islands, a special consultative committee should be set up, consisting of representatives of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy, with its headquarters in Buenos Aires. The committee should have its representatives in Port Stanley who would keep it informed.
  2. 2. The Argentine Government should issue a document, in the form annexed, to residents of the Falkland Islands irrespective of their nationality who wished to travel to the Argentine mainland, which would allow them free movement within it. A document in the same form issued by the Argentine Government should be the only document needed by residents of the Argentine mainland for journeys to the Falkland Islands.
  3. 3. Residents in the Falkland Islands should be exempted by the Argentine Government from all duties, taxes, and any other obligations arising as a result of activities in the Falkland Islands. In addition, residents of the Falkland Islands who go to the Argentine mainland in order to provide services connected with communications should be exempt from taxes on their salaries and other emoluments which they receive from their British employers. The British Government should make no claim on residents of the Argentine mainland who provide services in the Falkland Islands for activities related to communications for taxes on their salaries and other emoluments which they receive from their Argentine employers.
  4. 4. The Argentine Government should take the necessary practical measures so that the normal luggage of residents of the Falkland Islands who travel between the Falkland Islands and the Argentine mainland in either direction should be free from the payment of all duties and taxes. Residents of the Falkland Islands should be exempted from the payment of all Argentine duties and taxes in respect of their luggage, household effects and motor cars passing directly through the Argentine mainland towards the Falkland Islands or going abroad through the Argentine mainland. The British Government should take the necessary measures so that the normal luggage of residents of the Argentine mainland who travel between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands in either direction will be exempted from the payment of all duties and taxes.
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  6. 5. The Argentine Government should take the necessary measures so that each resident of the Islands who establishes a permanent residence on the Argentine mainland may bring in once only free of all duties and taxes all personal effects, household effects and a motor car. Equally, the British Government should take the necessary measures so that each resident on the Argentine mainland who establishes a permanent residence in the Falkland Islands, may bring in once only free of all duties and taxes all personal effects, household effects and a motor car.
  7. 6. The British and Argentine Governments should facilitate in the Falkland Islands and on the Argentine mainland respectively, the transit, residence and work of persons directly concerned with practical measures adopted in order to implement and promote communications and movement.
  8. 7. The British Government should take the necessary measures to arrange for a regular shipping service for passengers, cargo and mail between the Falkland Islands and the Argentine mainland.
  9. 8. The Argentine Government should take the necessary measures to arrange for a regular service of weekly frequency by air for passengers, cargo and mail between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands.
  10. 9. Pending the completion of the airfield at Port Stanley, the Argentine Government should provide a temporary service by amphibian aircraft between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands for passengers, cargo and mail. This service should be reviewed from time to time in the light of progress in the construction of the airfield mentioned above.
  11. 10. Both Governments should co-operate over the simplifications of administrative practices, regulations and documentation for sea and air transport bearing in mind the need to promote and speed up communications.
  12. 11. In order to facilitate the movement of persons born in the Falkland Islands, the Argentine Government should take the necessary measures to exempt them from all obligations related to enlistment and military service. The British Government should declare that in the Falkland Islands non-obligations for enlistment for military service exist.
  13. 12. Both Governments should study and exchange views on measures to facilitate trade and to permit a greater ease of commercial transactions.
  14. 13. The British and Argentine Governments should take the necessary measures so that postal, telegraphic and telephone communications in both directions between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands are as effective and expeditious as possible.
  15. 14. The tariff for postal, telegraphic and telephone communications in both directions between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands should be at a rate equivalent to the internal rate at the place of origin of the communications.
  16. 15. Postage stamps on mail travelling between the Argentine mainland and the Falkland Islands in either direction should be cancelled 16 with a mark referring to this Joint Statement. Mail bags should be similarly marked.
  17. 16. The Argentine Government should be prepared to co-operate in the health, educational, agricultural and technical fields if so requested. The Argentine Government should arrange for places to be available in schools on the Argentine mainland for the children of residents of the Falkland Islands, and should offer scholarships which should be published from time to time, the number of which should be decided upon in the light of local requirements. Both Governments should continue to exchange views on the matters referred to in this paragraph.
  18. 17. Conversations should be continued through the customary diplomatic channels and the next meeting should be held in Port Stanley in 1972.
  19. 18. If either Government should decide to terminate the measures referred to above, it should give six months' notice of its decision to the other Government.

Initialled in Buenos Aires on the 1st day of July 1971 by the Heads of the respective delegations.

J.B. D.A.S.