British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is to meet with the presidents of Brazil and Argentina today before crossing Iguazu Falls for a brief, historic visit to Argentina, nearly 20 years after its war with Britain over the Falklands Islands.
Mr Blair and Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso arrived at Iguazu today and dined at the Cataratas (Falls) Hotel, overlooking the sprawling natural wonder shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
It will be within sight of the falls that Mr Blair and President Cardoso will also meet later today with Argentine President Fernando de la Rua for discussions on "the third way," a new, more socially-aware form of government advocated by the three statesmen, according to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
Heavily focused on trade, Mr Blair has challenged the European Union to broaden economic reforms, scrap agricultural protectionism and liberalize the financial and energy sectors during his visits this week to Brasilia and Sao Paulo.
Yesterday, Mr Blair met with Mr Geraldo Alckmin, governor of Sao Paulo state, Brazil's economic powerhouse, and visited the Embraer aeronautics firm.
They met in Sao Paulo's botanical garden to reflect bilateral collaboration in reforestation projects, while Greenpeace environmental activists outside protested what they said was Britain's position as the second biggest buyer worldwide of illegally-harvested timber from the Amazonia.
Mr Blair's brief, two-hour visit across the falls to Puerto Iguazu, is also likely to stir resentment among many Argentinians, who believe the Falkland Islands - Malvinas as they are called in Argentina - were stolen by Britain in 1833.
The two countries went at war in 1982 after military rulers in Argentina launched an attempted occupation of the South Atlantic archipelago now populated by British descendants. The conflict left 897 servicemen - 642 Argentinean, 255 British - dead.
AFP