Falkland Islands edge closer to Argentina with 'conditions in place' for increased travel

"What we have done as a country is to say the conditions are in place for it to eventually be done," Mondino told the Financial Times.

There used to be an air route between Argentine second city Cordoba and the Falklands - a trip from Brazil's Sao Paolo via Argentina operated by a Chilean airline.

This then came to a halt during the pandemic at the islanders' request - but with UK-Argentine relations in the gutter under the South American state's previous government, they didn't resume.

And Falklanders have also opposed direct flights from Buenos Aires to their main airport on East Falkland.

They say Argentina had, in the past, used the direct route to exert pressure on British soil by cancelling flights with little notice.

But after a meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy - just before Britain handed over the Chagos Islands - Mondino has agreed to restart talks over the route.

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Though relations with the UK have improved since President Javier Milei came to power in December, Milei has publicly called for the Islands to be given to Argentina.

Also speaking to the FT, Thatcher fan Milei took aim at the Tories as he pushed Britain to take a seat at the negotiating table.

"If you are in conflict, you are not going to make any progress... With what the previous government was doing, they were never going to be Argentine again," he said.

Directly referencing the Chagos surrender - seen by many to have made the UK look weak - he said that "in the long term", Argentina would take over.

Talking about the diplomatic handover of the Chagos Islands, he told the paper: "By that mechanism, we believe that in the long term [the islands] will become Argentine again."

But Argentina's hardline Falklands hawks, namely Milei's own Vice President, have said a strengthening of ties is "against the interests of our nation", claiming it offers Britain "concrete advantages" while "they offer us crumbs like emotional comfort".

In response, Mondino said shaking hands with Lammy did "not affect our formula for safeguarding sovereignty" over the Falklands.

Calling the islands by their Spanish name, "Las Malvinas", she said: "The Falklands are and always will be Argentine. The continent and the islands should have better connections in that sense."

A UK Foreign Office spokesman said "the new package of South Atlantic cooperation benefits the UK and Argentina" and stood "alongside the UK's steadfast commitment to defending the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands".