During the international nuclear summit in Seoul, Argentina’s foreign minister Héctor Timerman denounced Great Britain’s “militarisation” of the Falklands, while Nick Clegg, the United Kingdom’s deputy prime minister, dismissed the claims as unfounded.

“My country is asking that the promise of peace that South Americans have chosen for the region be respected. Argentina demands that the extra-regional power which recently sent a submarine capable of carrying nuclear weapons to patrol in the South Atlantic confirm that it has not brought nuclear weapons to the region,” Timerman said, making references to the British submarine that was recently sent to patrol South Atlantic waters.

“I would like to call the summit’s attention to the recent militarisation of a so-called nuclear-free zone in which an extra-regional power sent a nuclear submarine into a zone whose sovereignty is subject of a dispute recognised by the UN while it hasn’t confirmed that it isn’t introducing nuclear weapons into a nuclear-free zone.” Timerman continued at the summit, which is attended by representatives from global powers, including United States president Barrack Obama.

“The countries that do not possess these tools of destruction need to be certain that we won’t be threatened by the most modern nuclear arsenals in order to protect anachronistic interests.”

Nick Clegg, the UK representative at the summit, responded soon after, calling the claims “unfounded, baseless insinuations.”

“As I’m sure our colleague from Argentina knows, the United Kingdom ratified the protocols to the treaty in 1969… which guarantees a nuclear weapons-free zone covering Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said. “We have respected those obligations since 1969 and we will continue to do so.”

This is the just the latest episode in a diplomatic war of words that has been escalating between the two countries in the months leading up to the Falklands War’s 30^th anniversary.

Argentina wants to reopen the debate about the sovereignty of the islands, which are found in Argentine waters according to international law. The British government believe that the inhabitants of the islands have the right to self-determination and that the islands should remain British as long as the people who live there want them to be.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was received last night in Seoul, by the South Korean leader Lee Myung-bak to speak along with other heads of states from around the world at the opening of the G20 summit to debate the world economy. United States President Barack Obama, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, Hu Jintao of China and Nicholas Sarkozy are among the politicians present in Seoul.

The Argentine head of state was welcomed with a round of applause when she arrived at the meeting.
President Fernández stated at the summit that the solution to the international crisis and avoiding a “war of currencies” is international cooperation between both developed and underdeveloped countries.

She went on to speak of Argentine economic success in recent years and suggested that this is a model that could be applied elsewhere to strengthen the global economy. She stressed the need again for cooperation by stating that “It is impossible for a given sector or economy to grow while the rest decrease or become an obstacle to that economy.”

Despite speaking on Argentina’s own economy, it has been confirmed that Argentine national debt issues with the Paris Club will not be discussed at the meeting as the heads of state are solely “discussing matters that are only related to the global economy.” This was confirmed by both Economy Minister Amado Boudou and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman. The pair also stated that President Fernández wants to rectify all the problems caused by the 2001 default but denied that G20 was the forum to raise economic issues related to only one country.

She also asserted that developed countries have a “responsibility” to underdeveloped countries and that “holding back their growth and their social inclusion, is not the right way to obtain the goals we proclaim.”

Before returning to Argentina, President Fernández also held a meeting with 30 of the most important transnational CEOs with interests in Argentina in order to foster relations against the global crisis.