Argentina calls on firms to halt imports of UK products

Amid an ongoing dispute over the Malvinas Islands between Argentina and Britain, the Argentinean industry minister has called on the country’s top companies to stop importing British products, Press TV reports.

Argentina’s Industry Minister Debora Giorgi on Tuesday called the bosses of at least 20 top firms to urge them to import goods produced elsewhere instead of Britain.

The move comes in the hope that it would press Britain to negotiate over the future of the Malvinas Islands as the government of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has recently stepped up its campaign to assert sovereignty over the islands.

Argentina had also banned two British cruise ships from docking in a port in its southernmost city of Ushuia in the Tierra del Fuego province Monday morning.

The Malvinas Islands, located about 300 miles off Argentina’s coast and home to about 3,000 inhabitants, have been declared as part of the British Overseas Territories since Britain established its colonial rule on the islands in 1833.

Argentina, however, has repeatedly dismissed the British claim over the island.

Tension has been rising ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 74-day bloody war fought between Britain and Argentina in 1982 over the islands which ended with the British side claiming victory over Argentineans. A year after the war, the UK enforced the British Nationality Act of 1983, which offers citizenship to the islanders.

Tensions between the two countries have also re-escalated since 2010 when London authorized oil prospecting around the islands.