Argentine-Chilean relationship

Countries have been in relationship for over 200 years. Until independence, the territories of these countries were under the control of the Spanish Empire : the captain-general of Chile and Rio de la Plata . During the Revolutionary War, Chile and Argentina were close allies and formed the Andean Army . After gaining independence, for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, relations between the countries were tense, mainly due to disputes over the ownership of Patagonia ^[2] . In 1881, a border treaty was signed between the two countries.

The most serious border conflict between the countries occurred due to a dispute over the ownership of three islands: Lennox, Picton and Isla Nueva , which are located south of the Beagle Channel . To resolve the territorial dispute, Argentina and Chile appealed for help to the British Queen Elizabeth II . In May 1977, Queen Elizabeth II ruled that these islands belong to Chile. Argentine authorities refused to make this decision and relations with Chile deteriorated sharply, putting these countries on the brink of a full-scale war . In 1978, countries accepted John Paul II’s offer to mediate in a territorial dispute through Cardinal’s special envoy Antonio Zamore . In May 1985, Argentina and Chile signed the Territorial Dispute Resolution Treaty in Rome . In August 1991, the President of Chile, Patricio Aylvin, and the President of Argentina, Carlos Saul Menem, signed the Agreement, as a result of which twenty-two problematic territorial issues were resolved, the remaining two issues were decided to be left to the international arbitrators. Chile continues to claim a part of the territory of Antarctica called the Chilean Antarctic Territory , which Argentina and Great Britain also claim ^[3] .

In May 2010, a diplomatic conflict occurred between the countries, caused by the fact that maps were issued in Argentina, where a number of disputed areas of Patagonia were marked as Argentine territory ^[4] .

In 2013, the volume of trade between countries amounted to about 1 billion US dollars , Argentina was the fourth trading partner of Chile (6% of the total imports of this country) ^[5] .