BUENOS AIRES.- He Argentine president Javier Milei received this Friday morning US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkenin the Casa Rosada, who visited Argentina as part of a tour he is taking through Latin America.
Before arriving in Argentina, Blinken was in Brazil where he met with the G20 foreign ministers. In Buenos Aires, the official was received by the US ambassador to Argentina Marc Stanley.
At the meeting between Milei and Blinken, which took place in the Evita Perón Room of the Casa Rosada, Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino was also present. At the end, Milei took the US Secretary of State to the balcony of the Casa Rosada, along with Mondino and the Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse, from where they greeted a group of people who were gathered in the Plaza de Mayo.
According to the Argentine press, Blinken’s visit suggests that Joe Biden’s government wants to verify if the southern country can become a bridge with Latin America, given that Milei has assured that his administration has the US as one of its main allies. In addition, Milei supports Ukraine and Israel, two US allies that are in the middle of conflicts on the international scene.
The US Embassy in Buenos Aires published on its social networks that Blinken was arriving in Argentina to “dialogue” with Milei “on bilateral and global issues, including sustainable economic growth, our shared commitment to human rights and democratic governance, minerals critics, and the improvement of trade and investment for the benefit of both countries,” according to a publication on the social network X.
Tonight Milei will travel to Washington to participate in the Conservative Action Political Conference (CPAC), a political summit that brings together conservative activists, in which plans a meeting with former US president Donald Trump.
Blinken arrived in Buenos Aires accompanied by a delegation made up of the Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols; the Secretary’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Thomas Sullivan; the Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary, Vedant Patel and the political advisor, Robert Allison.
The Biden government showed enormous interest in strengthening ties of cooperation with the Milei government. The US is the main foreign investor in Argentina. An official statement from the White House noted that Blinken’s visit to Argentina is due to the interest of “reaffirming shared interests and expanding cooperation in commercial matters, mining resources, human rights and security,” reported La Nación.
Relationship with the IMF
Earlier this week, Milei also received the number two of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gita Gopinath, who stated that the multilateral entity views favorably the Argentine government’s economic reform package.
“Excellent and substantive meeting with President @Jmilei on the best way to move the country forward,” said the IMF official on her X account.
Within the framework of Gopinath’s visit to Buenos Aires, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, told the press that the IMF put on the table the possibility of signing a new agreement with the country to refinance the loan of more than 44,000 million. of dollars that Argentina received in 2018 in the midst of a strong exchange rate crisis.
“They put the possibility of a new agreement on the table, we also studied alternatives and talked about a new agreement, to see if there is something better for the Argentines. It’s not that we are going to do it but that we are going to study it. If it is better and involves more outlays, fine. “We are studying what is best for the country,” he said.
For its part, the IMF did not officially rule on the possibility of a new credit program for Argentina.
Source: EDITORIAL / With information from La Nación / AP
