ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Relations between Argentina and Britain are bound to be strained as we mark thirty years since the Falklands War but Argentina sparked outrage this week with a television advertisement showing one of their Olympic hopefuls training on a British war memorial in the Falklands. William Hague branded it a stunt to save face after recent diplomatic setbacks. Well joining me now is the new Argentine Ambassador to Britain, Alicia Castrow, a very good morning to you Your Excellency. Would you like to start by apologising for that advertisement because it seems, as the Foreign Secretary describes it, as a stunt which rather overshadows the serious debate I presume you are trying to have about the Falklands?

ALICIA CASTROW: I don't think there is a serious debate at all. I think some papers like the Sun made it serious because it is a very anti-Argentinian newspaper and it is creating an enemy which we are not. We are definitely not an enemy, we have a conflict here and it was just an athlete filmed by a British advertising company and he was training and that’s it, it was not …

DM: But it was sponsored by the Argentine government making a political point and criticism focused on the fact that you are trying to politicise a sporting event, the greatest sporting event in the world, the Olympics. The IOC has said it was wrong.

AC: You know, the conflict is there since 1965, the United Nations and the international community there recognises that there is a special colonial situation and the so-called Malvinas Falkland question and that UK and Argentina has to sit and talk and discuss about that situation.

DM: I’m sorry to interrupt Your Excellency, but I just want to park that for a moment, that was precisely my point, this is the serious debate you want to have about the Falklands but you have thrown in this advertisement on a sensitive anniversary with your athlete running past red phone boxes and past Union flags and it is seen as a provocative act and one which has diminished that debate you want to have.

AC: No, we won’t agree on that because …

DM: So you still think it was a good thing to do?

AC: Malvinas are Argentina, I mean the islands belong to Argentina, they are in our continental shelf so there is nothing wrong with an athlete training there. I don’t really want to go into a small discussion, I would like to go into a broader discussion and the discussion is why can’t we sit and talk? Because the international community is calling for a settlement of this conflict in a peaceful and permanent solution and in the past, between 1965 and 1982 the United Kingdom and Argentina could sit and discuss regarding sovereignty and contemplated several options like lease back and joint administration and let me quote here Matthew Parris a former MP, in the Times in an article called ‘Think of Hong Kong, give the Falklands back’. He is recalling that in the early 80s he said such were the discussions Tory Ministers were discreetly pursing with Argentina in the early 80s, now we are all in Britain and Argentina older and wiser isn’t it time to return to those ideas? And that is all what we want to do, to sit and talk.

DM: We understand that, Ambassador, but hasn’t the conflict, we are on the thirtieth anniversary of so many terrible events, hasn’t that poisoned the well and the fact is that the Falkland Islanders themselves do not want any discussions to take place, there is no debate to have, there is no discussions to have since that conflict, the Falkland Islanders want to remain British and it is their right of self-determination to do that.

AC: But we are committed to respect the rights and the best interests and as a matter of fact, do you know that we have a very large British community in mainland Argentina, do you know, have you been to Argentina?

DM: No, I’ve never been to Argentina but I know about the origins of Argentina and Argentina itself is an immigrant country, it is a country formed by Spanish and British and others.

AC: Yes, it is and we are very happy and very friendly, come to Argentina everybody, you have direct flights, expensive though but direct flights to Argentina, come not only for the wine and the meat and the samba but come also for the friendship. Let me tell you …

DM: But with respect, Ambassador, that is another issue. You mentioned direct flights, you are trying to cut those even to Chile for the Falkland Islanders themselves, it’s not a welcome you are rolling out to them, you’re threatening their future and their sovereignty.

AC: Totally on the contrary. We have just handed notes to Minister Hague to offer direct and regular flights from Argentina, from continental Argentina to the Islands and that would enhance the lives of the inhabitants of the islands. In the past we had many practical measures that made a better life for the inhabitants of the Islands, we granted them scholarships, we granted free healthcare at the British Hospital in Argentina which is a very good one and we sent teachers to learn Spanish and many, many, many other things that will definitely make a better life for the islanders.

DM: So relations like that, from your point of view you would like to see obviously the Falklands, what you call the Malvinas, part of Argentina but everybody who lives there at the moment could remain British and have access to the wonders of Argentina as you describe them?

AC: Of course, they are British. They have been British since 1833 when they invaded the islands, Britain invaded the islands, they are British, they are British by law, there is a law in 1983, the British government passed a law that recognises they are fully British. We don’t intend to change their way of life, they are proud of their Britishness and we understand that. Let me go back to …

DM: I just wanted to say, obviously time is limited, this is an argument and we’ve heard it in some detail, that the Foreign Office has heard ad infinitum and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, is saying we hear all that but the Falkland Islanders do not want any change so there really is nothing to discuss. Yet Argentina ratchets up the pressure, it does PR stunts like the advertisements we’ve talked about but also threatening oil companies who are exploring in what you deem to be Argentinian waters, threatening them with civil and criminal actions.

AC: We’ll go there but let me finish before telling you and letting everybody know that this very large British community that we have in mainland Argentina, it’s about a quarter of a million of British descendants there living very happily and prosperous, we have businessmen and women …

DM: But I don't know what that’s got to do with it, there are Argentinians living in London but they’re not trying to say that parts of central London should become Argentinian.

AC: No, and we are not saying that the Isle of Man is Argentinian or the Isle of Wight is Argentinian but let me finish this point by telling you that we have some quarter of a million British descendants living very happily in mainland Argentina and it is a very small community, there are 3000 people living in Malvinas Islands, 1000 of them are soldiers and about 1334 are born in the islands and many of them are antagonising Argentina but isn’t it …

DM: Antagonising Argentina?

AC: Yes, is it rational that such a small community in the name of the very, very particular wishes and interests are against any dialogue? Does it make sense because they are not regarding the interests of the 60 million British people, they are not regarding the interests of the 30 million people in Argentina and they are not regarding their self-interests which no doubts would be better preserved if they were linked to the continent.

DM: But the British, you mentioned the 60 million people in Britain, support that small number of British citizens who inhabit the British Falkland Islands, the Falkland Islanders themselves do not want to have a discussion with Argentina over sovereignty, it is case closed therefore your move. What are you going to do next? I know you have been following the Foreign Secretary around or have appeared at meetings the Foreign Secretary has been addressing and making points about the Falklands since you took over here, since you arrived here in London as Ambassador. Is that the kind of campaign that continues from Argentina and does that go into forums like the Olympics?

AC: Are you calling international law a campaign? Our call for a dialogue, a proper dialogue, comes from the United Nations, comes from every summit, every country’s summit and comes from all our region. We are very happy having this colonial enclave in the south of our continent, it’s not an Argentinian cause, it’s a regional cause and there is no way the United Kingdom can by not wanting to have a proper dialogue with Argentina, it’s giving its back to Latin America as a whole and if it’s true that Britain wants to improve and elevate relations with Latin America they have to settle this very old dispute.

DM: You see that’s a point you want to put to the Foreign Secretary I know and to other organs of the British state but it doesn’t help your case, and we’ve been getting a lot of communications this morning saying that advert is offensive because you have politicised the Olympics and you have your athlete they say desecrating a war memorial at a very sensitive time. It doesn’t aid your ambition of opening that dialogue, stunts like that.

AC: No, I think it’s been used, an ad has been used as an excuse not to sit around a table.

DM: I’m sorry, Britain didn’t make the ad.

AC: But going back to what you said before and of course that is a very important issue, going back to what you said before that British people are with the wishes of the self-determination of this population that is not applicable, the self-determination in this particular case. I have a point here in the Daily Telegraph that is asking, should Britain return the Falkland Islands to Argentina? It was done here and 65 28 people said yes, 25% say no and islanders should hold a referendum to decide, 12 61% said …

DM: I’m sorry Ambassador, we are out of time but I guess we know which way the poll will go on the Falkland Islands, thank you very much for coming in.

AC: Can I just tell you a last story very briefly because this was an extraordinary experience and I want to share it with you. From two to four May, some two days ago, I was at a colloquium at the University of Nottingham and there was an Argentine veteran and there were three English veterans, one of them was a Ghurkha commander that fought in Malvinas in the [inaudible] battle and his name is Mike Sears and he was talking and very friendly and I was there, obviously very moved. It was a huge step in humanity and if ex-veterans can talk, they were the strongest advocate for reconciliation, why can’t politicians?

DM: I think one thing our two nations do agree on about the Falklands is that there must never be a conflict over it ever again and hopefully the situation can be sorted out by talking.

AC: It will never happen again.

DM: Ambassador, thank you very much indeed, Alicia Castrow there, the Argentine Ambassador to the United Kingdom.