Britain's Latin America minister Jeremy Browne said Thursday he would attend ceremonies in the Falkland Islands marking the 30th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War.

Browne will be the first British minister to visit the South Atlantic archipelago in an official capacity since January 2008.

The highlight of his four-day visit will be attending the annual Liberation Day service on June 14, which he said would be a mixture of "celebration and commemoration".

Browne, who departs Sunday, will be in the British overseas territory from Monday to Friday.

"It's a balance about people being pleased on the Falkland Islands about the outcome of the war but also a more sombre reflection on the sacrifice on both sides," Browne told reporters.

Britain has held the Falklands since 1833, but Buenos Aires claims that the barren islands are occupied Argentine territory.

On April 2, 1982, the then-ruling junta in Argentina invaded the Falklands, sparking a 74-day war with Britain which cost the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British troops.

"It will be in part a celebration because people are proud of the achievements of the British armed forces," Browne said.

"The Falkland Islanders themselves were obviously coerced into a political arrangement they did not wish to have 30 years ago and are enthusiastic about celebrating their liberation.

"But it's also a commemorative event and an opportunity for sombre reflection," he said.

Diplomatic friction between Argentina and Britain has worsened since 2010, when London authorised oil prospecting in the waters around the windswept islands, which are home to fewer than 3,000 people.

Political agitation has intensified further still in Argentina during the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.

"A lot of the focus will be on the current events around sovereignty," Browne said.

"We believe that the people of the Falkland Islands should be free to determine their own political arrangements, their own destiny," he said, saying they were not to be part of "some sort of trade-off" over their heads.

Browne said it was "pretty clear" that G20 member Argentina was behaving in a "domineering way" by "seeking to put an economic blockade in place... to impoverish an isolated community with about 3,000 people".

Argentina said Monday it had begun the process of suing five British oil exploration companies operating around the Falklands, having declared their activities "illegal".

Britain said it would help the companies deal with any practical implications.

"I don't get any sense that what Argentina is doing will impede oil exploration," Browne said.

"There are enough companies that are interested in the possibilities that exist, that they can operate even with the restrictions that Argentina have put in place."