July 30, 2010  Print Email | Chile and Argentina stake Antarctic claim
Aim to head Britain off at the pass
Posted by Agencies at 08:10 AM GMT on Mar 06, 2009 | SANTIAGO (AFP): Chile and Argentine are staking their claim to parts of Antarctica, as the UN considers a sovereignty bid from Britain.
Ten Chilean and Argentine lawmakers gathered yesterday in the Antarctic to stake territorial rights after Britain claimed to a wide swath of ocean bottom off the frozen continent, officials said.
The aim of the meeting "is to strengthen our nation's legal position in the Antarctic Territory and to support all the legal instruments of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), including the (1998) Antarctic-Environmental Protocol," Chile's chamber of deputies said in a statement.
Chile and Argentina's territorial rights claims came in response to a British bid submitted to the United Nations in October 2007 for sovereignty over more than one million square kilometers (385,000 square miles) of seabed off Antarctica.
A UN decision on Britain's territorial bid, which would grant the country access to potential oil and gas reserves up to 350 miles off Antarctica, is expected in May this year.
The eight Chilean and two Argentine lawmakers met yesterday at the Chilean military base of Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva. A subsequent second meeting was set for Argentina's Jubany military base also in Antarctica, the statement said.
A joint statement reaffirmed the neighbouring countries' support for the ATS and its environmental protocol.
Entering into force in 1961, the ATS has been signed by 46 countries, including the United States and Britain. It designates Antarctica as a scientific preserve, and bans military activity and territorial claims on the continent.
In the treaty, Antarctica is defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60 degrees south latitude, but does not mention its continental shelf.
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