05/14/2021 4:06 AM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 05/14/2021 4:18 AM
(Rome-Special Envoy) Alberto Fernández and the director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, have already started
their first face-to-face meeting
in this Italian capital, on the last leg of the President's European tour.
However,
it is not the first time
they have had a dialogue.
There were other talks, albeit by phone or virtual.
The meeting
began promptly
at 9 in the morning in Rome - 4 in Argentina - at the Sofitel hotel in Villa Borguese, where the head of state is staying.
The Bulgarian arrived at the place two minutes before the agreed time and went directly to a reserved room.
"Finally see you,"
said the woman to Fernández when they met, before going to the living room, on the ground floor.
They were accompanied by two translators.
The IMF director was accompanied by Jolie Kozack, deputy director, and in charge of the technical negotiation for the Argentine debt.
Along with Fernández is Martín Guzmán.
Guzmán and Kozack held two face-to-face meetings in this Italian capital, between Wednesday and Thursday, within the framework of the negotiations regarding the payment facility program that Argentina is discussing with the Fund.
"Good morning, nice to be here," Georgieva said to the protocol officers who were waiting for her in the lobby for the formal reception.
It is a meeting from which, however, concrete announcements are not expected, according to senior sources in the Argentine delegation.
"I hope you understand Argentina's claim," asked the president hours before the summit in dialogue with Public TV.
The Casa Rosada wants a program that does not generate more anxiety in the ailing economy: "A state with an expansive role while the accounts are put in order", is the road map, still far away.
The meeting, anticipated by this newspaper on Monday, has special relevance for the government: with the public support of Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Italy in the renegotiation of the debt with the agency, Fernández intends to return from Italy on Friday night with a public gesture by the director of the Fund as the crowning achievement of the technical conversations that took place in recent months.
That is, to elevate the discussions that Guzmán had in the last month, and that led him on a tour of Europe a few weeks ago, to a presidential rank.
And to show, to the strong lady of the Fund, the public support of Europe for their negotiations.
There was speculation in Rome with the possibility of a joint declaration, but high sources involved in the negotiations put it down.
"He is a very influential person in the world and the main debtor (the country) with the IMF. It is very important that they meet in person. Nothing concrete will be announced, but it is an important step in the negotiation," they explained to Clarín high sources of the delegation, involved in the conversations.
"We are fine," they explained in the last hours about the negotiations.
On Wednesday night, while the head of state dined with his collaborators and the first lady on the seventh floor of the Sofitel, with a delightful view of the Italian capital, Minister Martín Guzmán held a working meeting with Jolie Kozack, deputy director of the organism and in charge of the Argentine debt.
The Government seeks to extend the terms and reach a facility plan for the debt of US $ 44,000 million contracted by the Cambiemos administration, in parallel to the postponement of the maturity of US $ 2,400 million of the Paris Club, which expire at the end of the month and that a 60-day trading window is sought.
They were the two central themes that flew over all the presidential meetings with the leaders of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.
"I definitely fulfilled all the objectives that I came to seek," the President and his collaborators were enthusiastic on Thursday when he returned from the meeting with Prime Minister Mario Draghi, at Palazzo Chigi, in a section of the hotel that is hosting until this Friday the entourage.
DB
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