SAN JOSE, Nov 20 (AFP) - Leaders from Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in Latin America urged Britain and Argentina Saturday to renew their dialogue on the Falkland islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas.
"The heads of state and government ... reaffirm the need for the governments of Argentina and Britain to resume as soon as possible negotiations aimed at achieving a swift solution to the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas islands," a special statement issued by the Ibero-American summit in Costa Rica's capital said.
The 1982 war over the Falklands, some 550 kilometers (350 miles) off the Argentine coast, left 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers dead.
Argentina told a United Nations committee in June 2003 that its claim to the islands was a top priority and a month later Argentine President Nestor Kirchner told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the two countries should revive talks on the islands' status.
The two countries resumed diplomatic relations only in the early 1990s and Blair in 2001 became the first British premier to visit Argentina since the war.
Relations cooled again in December when Kirchner urged Britain to apologize for transporting nuclear weapons on British ships during the war.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said participant nations also had backed a planned Alliance of Civilizations, aimed at fostering dialogue between Christians and Moslems.
"This was a very important step for this idea to move forward at the United Nations," the socialist Spanish leader said.
Leaders also were expected to sign Saturday a special statement on Haiti in which they were to commit to taking a bigger role in the economic and political recovery of the destitute Caribbean nation set to hold elections next year.
The Ibero-American gathering was largely overshadowed by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Santiago, also held over the weekend, and a strong earthquake that rocked San Jose.
And it was marked by the absence of presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Ricardo Lagos of Chile, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Alejandro Toledo of Peru, Jorge Fernando Brando de Sampaio of Portugal and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
Education also was on the agenda, and a draft of the final declaration calls for "creative" new approaches to tackle the lack of funding in that sector.
Visiting dignitaries were jolted into action early Saturday -- if not by the work ahead of them by the strong earthquake that shook central Costa Rica early Saturday. Authorities linked eight deaths to the quake.
"I thought it was a train going through a station," quipped Spain's King Juan Carlos. "I went back to sleep."
Seismic experts at Costa Rica's National University said the quake's magnitude was six on the Richter scale and said the epicenter was about ten kilometers (six miles) north of Puerto Quepos on Costa Rica's west coast.
The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 6.2 and located its epicenter 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of San Jose, at a depth of 23 kilometers (14 miles).
11/20/2004 21:59 GMT - AFP