Bilateral diplomatic relations between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom were restored as a result of the Joint Declarations of Madrid of 1989 and 1990 which adopted a formula safeguarding sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich and the surrounding maritime spaces. Pursuant to the Joint Declaration of 19 October 1989, this formula applies to all bilateral meetings concerning practical aspects in connection with the Malvinas as well as with declarations and acts of the parties or third parties, which occur as a consequence of what has been agreed at the meetings.
After the 1989 and 1990 Joint Statements signed in Madrid with the United Kingdom various provisional understandings on practical questions related to the South Atlantic were adopted in successive joint statements and exchanges of notes in accordance with the formula of safeguarding of sovereignty. These refer to mutual trust-building measures in military matters in order to avoid incidents, conservation of fishing resources, air and sea communications between the Argentine mainland and the islands, access by Argentine passport holders to the islands, the construction of a memorial to the Argentines who fell in the islands in 1982, the exchange of information on the outer delimitation of the continental shelf, the carrying out of a feasibility study on mine clearance in the Malvinas Islands and the analysis of place names in the Malvinas Islands. Such understandings concerning the creation of a modus vivendi for the area in dispute have a provisional character and aim at bringing about conditions for resuming negotiations about sovereignty.