Alberto Fernández, before his first face-to-face meeting with Kristalina Georgieva: 'I trust you understand Argentina's claim'

05/13/2021 8:17 PM

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 05/13/2021 8:35 PM

President

Alberto Fernandez

He expressed his expectation on Thursday for the meeting he will hold on Friday with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Kristalina Georgieva

:

"I trust you understand Argentina's claim."

"I hope tomorrow to be able to speak with her, convey these wishes, this vocation of ours and I trust that she understands it, that she understands the claim and the proposals that Argentina is making," said the head of state in an interview with Public Television.

The president made these declarations within the framework of the official tour that he is making in Europe to add support in the negotiations aimed at restructuring the debt that Argentina has both with the IMF, for around 45,000 million dollars, and with the Club de Paris. 

Regarding tomorrow's meeting with the head of the Fund, Fernández stressed that it will be "the first time" that both meet personally.

"

It will be the first time we meet face to face

, because the truth is that we spoke many times on the phone, by teleconference, but we never had the opportunity to be seated face to face," he said.

The President considered that the personal meeting will allow closer positions.

"I think it

will help me a lot, and surely her too, to hear from my mouth what happens to Argentina,

" he said. 

"She has helped us a lot so far,

I want to reach an agreement with the Monetary Fund

that does not involve the postponement of Argentina and of those who live in Argentina because, between what we inherited and the pandemic, Argentines have already suffered a lot and I do not want more suffering, "he stressed. 

In addition, he said that his will is to convey that "Argentina today is the victim of a debt taken irresponsibly by a government that today advises us how to pay the debt, but that at the time put us in the worst of worlds and that we want comply but not at the cost of the hunger of our people. "

Topics to be discussed at the meeting

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m.

in Italy (4 in Argentina) at the

Sofitel Hotel

and was arranged to address issues related to the renegotiation of the deadlines for the payment of the debt that Argentina maintains with that body and that was taken by the previous management of Mauricio Macri.

The Argentine government seeks to postpone the maturities of debt with the IMF this year, which must pay between

September and October

, given the difficulty posed by the coronavirus pandemic to Argentina and the world, when resources are scarce and funds are required to obtain vaccines, strengthen the health system and assist the most affected sectors.

This was understood even by the leaders of the countries that the President and his entourage visited during the nearly week-long tour of different European nations.

Those leaders publicly expressed their support for Argentina's position vis-à-vis the IMF in light of the sensitivity required of the organization in the context of the pandemic and the crisis it generates.

In addition, Argentina proposes the

cancellation of the 2 percent surcharge that is charged to countries that received an amount greater than the quota contributed by the agency

, as Fernández publicly expressed during the joint statement he made in Portugal with his by Antonio Costa, who also supported this initiative.

Another proposal that the national government is working on, and which is expected to be at the meeting between Fernández and Georgieva, is that the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of the IMF be assigned not only to the neediest countries but also to middle-income countries, They comprise 65 percent of world poverty.

AFG

Look also

Alberto Fernández met 25 minutes with Pope Francis: "It was a very nice meeting, he expressed his idea to support us in whatever way he can"

Alberto Fernández seeks support to renegotiate with the IMF, but Cristina Kirchner complicates it in the Senate