By J. Brock (FINN)
The 7th Ministerial Meeting of the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone agreed on Thursday to strengthen peaceful cooperation in the area of defense. Delegates from 21 South American and African countries with coasts in the South Atlantic held a two-day meeting here and signed the Declaration of Montevideo, a document of 18 pages and 124 articles, with several paragraphs dedicated to regional defense issues and the interest of member countries to keep the zone free of nuclear weapons and others of massive destruction.
Delegates urged the United Kingdom and Argentina to find a peaceful, just and lasting solution to their dispute over the Falkland Islands. After calling on London and Buenos Aires to resume negotiations, according to the UN resolutions, they recalled the need to meanwhile abstain from taking decisions that imply the introduction of unilateral modifications over the islands, including illegal exploration for oil in that zone.
The joint statement expressed concern about reinforcement of British military presence in the zone and referred to the need of putting a quick and unconditional end to colonialism in all of its forms, as well as insisting on the need to preserve the Southern Atlantic from wars, nuclear and other massive destruction weapons, conflicts, drug trafficking and piracy. Also debated were the topics of governance, economic development, oceanic resources, the environment and combat against organized transnational crime.
The presidency was passed from Angola to Uruguay in this meeting.
Brazil was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Patriota and the minister of Defense, Celso Amorim. Uruguays minister of Foreign Relations, Luis Almagro will head the group until 2015. He centered his message on defense of peace, dialogue and strengthening of regional integration between countries of both continents.
