David Cameron has said the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is “not up for discussion” as he prepares to visit in a show of support for its population.
The new Argentinian president, Javier Milei, pledged during his recent election campaign that he would gain sovereignty over the islands.
He has said Buenos Aires had “non-negotiable sovereignty” over the islands, although he has vowed to get the islands back through “diplomatic channels”.
Downing Street insists the issue of sovereignty is “settled”.
A referendum in 2013 saw islanders overwhelmingly vote to remain a self-governing UK overseas territory.
Ahead of his visit, foreign secretary Lord Cameron said: “The Falkland Islands are a valued part of the British family, and we are clear that as long as they want to remain part of the family, the issue of sovereignty will not be up for discussion.”
He described the islands as a “modern, prosperous community” and said locals “should be proud” of what they had built.
Lord Cameron will pay his respects to the British armed forces personnel who served and lost their lives during the Falklands War in 1982 after Argentinian forces invaded.
Foreign secretary Lord David Cameron
He is also expected to thank the military serving on the islands today.
The visit will be the first part of a trip that will also see him become the first foreign secretary to visit Paraguay. After that he will travel to a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Brazil and then on to New York.
Mr Milei, who has been nicknamed “El Loco” or the madman, is reported to have said during a televised election debate: “What do I propose? Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas islands is non-negotiable. The Malvinas are Argentinian.
“Now we have to see how we are going to get them back. It is clear that the war option is not a solution. We had a war – that we lost – and now we have to make every effort to recover the islands through diplomatic channels.”
Mr Milei has also proposed that the UK hand over the Falklands in a similar way to how Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule in the late 1990s.
