The Argentine President, Mr Carlos Menem, has apologised for the 1982 Falklands War with Britain in an article written for today's edition of the tabloid Sun newspaper.
Mr Menem wrote of a "conflict that should never have happened and that we deeply regret". The president, who is due to begin a visit to Britain on Tuesday, wrote: "1982 was a sad and traumatic blot in the history of our relations. Some brave young Argentine and British soldiers lost their lives in a conflict that should never have happened and that we deeply regret."
A spokesman for the Prime Minister's office said the Sun editor, Mr David Yelland, had asked Mr Blair's press secretary to approach the Argentine government for an article from President Menem. "The president was happy to do this as a way of building on the theme of reconciliation which he hopes will be part of his visit next week," said the spokesman.
During the Falklands War, the Sun infamously announced the sinking of the Argentinian warship Belgrano with the front page headline "Gotcha!"
Earlier yesterday, Downing Street made clear that Mr Menem's visit, the first by an Argentine leader since the war, meant relations between the two countries were "back to normal".
Downing Street said the main point of President Menem's visit was to "underline the distance that we have travelled in our relations since 1982"Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "The Argentina of today is not the Argentina that Britain was at war with." He insisted the visit would not be overshadowed by the row over the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.